Seen Jeem

In this episode, Pauline Homsi Vinson interviews poet Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch about their award-winning poetry collection, The Good Arabs. El Bechelany-Lynch's The Good Arabs explores the many simultaneous realities present within their Arab, Lebanese community such as anti-Black sentiments and the embracing of capitalism while also being hospitable and generous. The Good Arabs examines race and class, gender and sexuality, and the experience of language all within the Lebanese diaspora. Watch Eli's reading at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/eli

In this episode, Pauline Homsi Vinson interviews Reda Taleb about her children's book, Noura's Extraordinary Power. The book center's on 8 year old Noura as she discovers her "missing" father is actually incarcerated. Loosely based on her own family experience, Taleb aims to explain and unpack incarceration to youth of all ages. Watch Reda's reading at seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/reda

In this episode, Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine interviews award-winning journalist and novelist Omar El Akkad about his second novel, What Strange Paradise. The novel follows 9 year old Amir and 15 year old Vänna as they both seek safety. El Akkad speaks on the universal inclination towards friendship, the underlying connection to Peter Pan, and the "dueling fantasies" of not what the world is, but what he believes it to be. Check out Omar's reading at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/omar

In this episode, Pauline Homsi Vinson interviews professor and author Wessam Elmeligi about his graphic novels Y and Y and Jamila. Written during the Arab Spring, Y and Y contrasts the innocence of childhood with the brutality of war. Jamila follows the journey of one Egyptian woman navigating familial and cultural expectations, defying euro-centric stereotypes, and ultimately recognizing the truth of her name. Watch a video of Wessam's readings at www.seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/wessam

Sally Howell interviews award-winning poet Hajjar Baban about her chapbooks Relative to Blood and What I Know of the Mountains. Baban discusses how she got her start in poetry and the themes she explores within her writing: identity, religion, language, displacement, and place. Today's episode was originally published on the Halal Metropolis Podcast. Learn more at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/hajjar

In this episode, Matthew Jaber Stiffler interviews award-winning poet Safia Elhillo. Elhillo discusses her novel in verse, Home Is Not a Country, and her second book of poetry, Girls That Never Die. Elhillo speaks about the autobiographical nature of her work, the audience she writes for, the practice of writing poetry, and the direction her future books might take. Check out Safia's readings at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/safia

In this episode, Pauline Homsi Vinson interviews Eman Quotah about her novel, Bride of the Sea. Bride of the Sea follows the lives of a mother and her daughter, who disappear after the collapse of her marriage, and the father who spends years searching for them from another country. Quotah's debut novel explores loss, religion, family, and the lasting effects of decisions made out of despair. Learn more at seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/eman

Sally Howell interviews poet Kamelya Omaya Youssef about her book, A book with a hole in it, composed of Youssef's journal entries from a four month period in 2019. A book with a hole in it is "an experiment" and a lyrical processing of various traumas Youssef experiences and witnesses in her life. Today's episode was originally published on the Halal Metropolis Podcast. Learn more at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/kamelya

On today’s episode, Pauline Homsi Vinson speaks with Rabih Alameddine, an award-winning Lebanese-American painter and writer. They discuss Rabih's book, The Wrong End of the Telescope. This powerful book showcases the story of an Arab American trans women doctor's work with Syrian refugees on the island of Lesbos, and her connection with a refugee mother who hid her cancer diagnosis from her recently displaced family. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Anchor.  Watch Rabih's reading and learn more at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/rabih

The Seen Jeem Podcast is ringing in a new season with a special episode featuring Pauline Homsi Vinson interviewing Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine.  Abou-Zeineddine is co-editor of the creative non-fiction anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundry and Belonging. The anthology features well established and first time Arab American writers. Hadha Baladuna, Arabic for “this is our country,” explores the diverse and distinct experiences of Arab Americans in Dearborn, MI, the city with the highest concentration of Arabs in the U.S. This podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Anchor.  Watch Ghassan's reading and learn more at https://seenjeempodcast.org/season-two-episodes/ghassan

In this week's episode of the Seen Jeem podcast, Rajia Hassib discusses her second novel A Pure Heart. She explains her process of dramatizing the Arab Spring, contemporary Egyptian society, sisterhood, religion and secularism, the pursuit of purity, immigration, the importance of historical artifacts, and finding a sense of home in a foreign place. To watch recordings of Rajia's reading, visit https://seenjeempodcast.org/episodes/episode-14-rajia-hassib

In today's episode, Susan Muaddi Darraj discusses her book series Farah Rocks Fifth Grade, which is the first chapter book series to feature Arab American characters. She describes the process of writing for children, the representation of people of color in children’s literature, challenging the publishing industry’s stereotypes of Arab Americans, and dramatizing an Arab American identity and community, among other topics. To watch a recording of Susan's reading, visit https://seenjeempodcast.org/episodes/episode-11-susan-muaddi-darraj

In today's episode of the Seen Jeem podcast, Sahar Mustafah discusses her debut and award-winning novel The Beauty of Your Face. Mustafah goes into detail about the writing of her book, which includes employing an episodic narrative structure and dramatizing the horror of a school shooting at an Islamic school for girls located in the Chicago suburbs. She talks about the representation of Arab American and Muslim American women in her fiction, and how her representations challenge the publishing industry’s stereotypes of such women. For video recordings of her readings, visit https://seenjeempodcast.org/episodes/episode6-sahar-mustafah

Welcome to the first episode of the Seen Jeem podcast, which highlights the voices of contemporary Arab American writers! Joining us for our first episode is Dunya Mikhail. Dunya discusses her latest collection of poetry In Her Feminine Sign, touching on the art of translation, the use of testimonials and fables in verse, the meaning of home, the plight of Iraqi women in times of political instability and violence, war trauma, and the burden of memories. She describes the experience of returning to Iraq after years of exile to conduct research for her creative nonfiction book The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq.

This interview took place in the Spring of 2021.