Thursday, Feb 22, 2024, 6:00 PM ET
27th Letter Books
3546 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48216
RSVP: bit.ly/QAMuslimYA
Add this event to your calendar
Join the University of Michigan Global Islamic Studies Center at 27th Letter Books on 2/22 for a panel discussion on some of the latest and most popular Young Adult (YA) Muslim books. Come find out what young Muslims are reading and talking about today. Coffee and refreshments will be provided! Dr. Lakisha Michelle Simmons will moderate this event.
Meet the authors:
Free event, open to all, and coffee & refreshments will be served! Please make sure to RSVP!
Laila Sabreen is a young adult contemporary writer who was raised in the Washington DC area. Her love of writing began as a love of reading, which started when she used to take weekly trips to her local library. When she isn’t writing, she can be found creating niche playlists, watching reality TV, or working on an academic article about literature and Black girlhood. Her debut, You Truly Assumed, was published by Inkyard Press/HarperCollins in 2022.
Leila Abdelrazaq (b. 1992, Chicago) is a Palestinian author and artist. Her debut graphic novel, Baddawi (Just World Books 2015) was shortlisted for the 2015 Palestine Book Awards and has been translated into three languages. Since then, she has created a number of other zines, comics, and writings. She has published, exhibited work, and given workshops around the world. Leila’s creative work primarily explores issues related to diaspora, refugeehood, history, memory, and borders. She earned her MA in Modern Middle Eastern & North African Studies from the University of Michigan in 2020, where her research focused on Palestinian futurist art and and post-national imaginaries. As an abolitionist and an artist, Leila is invested in imagining what Palestinian liberation might look like beyond the violence inherent in statehood.
Meriam Metoui is the author of A Guide to the Dark, which School Library Journal described in its starred review as "Compelling . . . readers will have trouble putting this one down even for a minute". Born in Tunisia, she now lives in Detroit, Michigan, with her partner and her puppy. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Hunter College, where she received a master's degree in English Literature. When not writing, she can be found behind a camera, binging a new favorite TV show, or wondering what hidden pockets of magic to write about next. Learn more at MeriamMetoui.com.
Sabina Khan is the author of The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali, Zara Hossain Is Here, Meet Me In Mumbai and What A Desi Girl Wants. Her books have been featured in Oprah Magazine, Teen Vogue, The New York Times Review, NBC and the BBC. She grew up as a bookworm, but never saw herself reflected in the books she read. As an adult, she read books with her daughters and found that hardly anyone was telling stories about girls, who like her daughters, were from one culture but living in a very different one. A South Asian Muslim immigrant, Sabina was born in Germany, raised in Bangladesh and now lives in British Columbia after having lived in Macao, Illinois and Texas. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Illinois Wesleyan University and works as an Educational Consultant. By night, she is a karaoke enthusiast and puppy wrangler.
LaKisha Michelle Simmons is an Associate Professor of History and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Crescent City Girls: Young Black Women in Segregated New Orleans and the co-editor, with Corinne Field, of The Global History of Black Girlhood.
This event is brought to you by the Global Islamic Studies Center (GISC), American Culture, Arab and Muslim American Studies (AMAS), the Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies (CMENAS), and English Language & Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as well as 27th Letter Books Detroit.
If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend this event, please reach out to us at islamicstudies@umich.edu, we'd be happy to help. As you may know, some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange, so the sooner you can reach out to us the better.
----
Want to hear about similar events from U-M Islamic Studies? Sign up for the GISC Newsletter here! We send out a monthly newsletter in collaboration with the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and the Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum.
Join our Email newsletter: https://myumi.ch/nbW83
Islamic Studies Minor: https://myumi.ch/R5YnQ
Email islamicstudies@umich.edu
Are you a student looking for funding?
Graduate Funding Opportunities: https://bit.ly/GISCGradFunding
Undergrad Funding Opportunities: https://bit.ly/GISCUndergradFunding
