Veeser Book Talk This Saturday, Ann Arbor, Michigan
31 May
I’m just back from the rollicking Radius of Arab-American Writers meeting, where my presentation on Edward Said riled a few folks and gratified others. The Mead-designed slides and sound clips went off fine because Matthew set it up right. Had he actually been there, we’d have truly rocked the casbah.
RAWI is an extraordinary group, where you can hear the Arabic of Libya, Morocco, Lebanon, and Tunisia. Big brains, splendid poets, riveting fiction, compelling essays. Anton Shammas and Nouri Gana, Khaled Mattawa and Marilyn Nelson, Michael Malek Najjar and Fadia Faqui joined with hipsters and graduate students. And old Veeser friend Tom Abowd, currently teaching at Colby College in Maine, dropped in to raise the roof. Tom, come back to New York. We haven’t had a good party here since you left. Tom is considering a post at CUNY.
Lots of excitement around the Said book. All the available copies were quickly sold.