Seen Jeem

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

On the final episode of the first season of the Seen Jeem podcast, we have the pleasure of speaking with journalist, cartoonist and author Malaka Gharib about her award-winning graphic memoir, I Was Their American Dream, which explores themes related to the immigrant experience. Listen to this episode to learn more about how Malaka's identity as a Filipino-Egyptian-American person inspired her book! View videos of Malaka's reading here: www.seenjeempodcast.org/episodes/episode-15-malaka-gharib

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