A Celebration of Arab American Poetry | Readings by Maha Hashwi, Ghinwa Jawhari, Lawrence Joseph, and Kamelya Omayma Youssef

​Join SNFL and the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) for a celebration of Arab American Heritage Month and National Poetry Month, with readings by Maha Hashwi, Ghinwa Jawhari, Lawrence Joseph, and Kamelya Omayma Youssef.

This event will take place in person and online at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor.

To honor the rich poetic tradition of Arab American literature, poets Maha Hashwi, Ghinwa Jawhari, Lawrence Joseph, and Kamelya Omayma Youssef will read from and discuss their work. This event is hosted in partnership with RAWI, founded in 1993 as the Radius of Arab American Writers.

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

To view the livestream | Whether you're attending in person or online, you must register with your email address. You will need a device with audio and/or video and an internet/cellular connection to view the livestream.

ABOUT THE POETS

Maha Hashwi is a storyteller and spoken word poet. She is unapologetic in her identities as a Muslim and Arab woman. Her debut poetry collection, The Pomegranate Is a Grenade, will be published September 2026. She hosts a writing workshop in NYC called Anyone Can Write encouraging all to put pen to paper. Maha has attended Aspen Institute's Summer Words Writers Conference in Poetry and Tin House's Winter Workshop. She grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and now lives in New York City. 

Ghinwa Jawhari is a Lebanese American writer from Cleveland, based in Brooklyn. She is a recipient of fellowships from Kundiman and the Asian American Writers' Workshop. Her fiction, poetry, and essays appear in Prairie Schooner, The Adroit Journal, Al Rawiya, Rusted Radishes, and elsewhere. Her chapbook BINT (2021) was selected by Aria Aber for Radix Media's Own Voices Chapbook Prize.

Born in Detroit, Lawrence Joseph is the grandson of Lebanese and Syrian immigrants, who were among the first Arab Americans in Detroit in the early years of the twentieth century. He is the author of many books of poems, most recently A Certain Clarity: Selected Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020), and two books of prose, Lawyerland, a nonfiction novel (FSG, 1997), and The Game Changed: Essays and Other Prose (University of Michigan Press, 2011). His new book of poems, Precisely Now, will be published by FSG in September 2026. Among his awards are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts. He is a retired Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law and lives in New York City.

Kamelya Omayma Youssef is the author of A book with a hole in it, which won the Arab American Book Award for Poetry in 2023 and Wendy's Subway's Carolyn Bush Award in 2020. She is a text and performance worker who works, teaches, edits, and organizes events in Detroit, NY, etc. Her work has appeared in Apogee, Mizna, Sukoon, AAWW’s The Margins, Poem-a-Day, and elsewhere. Currently, she is an Artist-at-Work in partnership with The Office Arts, and she is curating events and the microresidency at City of Asylum-Detroit. Her second book is forthcoming soon with 1080press.

ABOUT RAWI

RAWI is a 501(c)(3) literary nonprofit dedicated to supporting creative and scholarly writing by writers with roots in the Arab and SWANA (Southwest Asian & North African) region. Through readings, panels, workshops, roundtables, conferences, and festivals that emphasize inclusivity, they create liberatory space and highlight voices and people threatened by erasure. Founded in 1993 as the Radius of Arab American Writers, “RAWI” means storyteller in Arabic. They help Arab and SWANA writers share their lived experiences. Learn more at rawiwriters.org.

Arab American Poetry in the Collection

• Explore in the NYPL Catalog


• This event will also include signing and sales of our poets' books by our Library Shop.

Don't have a New York Public Library card? Get one here!

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

In-Person

• Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.


• ASL interpretation and real-time captioning (CART) are available upon request. Please submit your request via this form or contact SNFL at least two weeks in advance.


• This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

Livestream

• ASL interpretation and real-time captioning (CART) also available (see previous).


• Captions and a transcript will be provided.

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Please submit all press inquiries to Connor Goodwin at least 48 hours before the event: email connorgoodwin@nypl.org.
 

SUPPORT THE LIBRARY

The New York Public Library's free services and resources are made possible thanks to the support of the Friends of the Library. Join this group of Library lovers and take advantage of special membership benefits, like invitations to members-only virtual events, discounts at the Library Shop, and more. Join now.

All programs are subject to change or cancellation. All events at The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library are subject to recording and photography. 

The 7 Stories Up Series at SNFL is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).