Writing Workshop: Creating a Mosaic: Personal Histories from the Middle Eastern Diaspora

So much is being written about people of Middle Eastern heritage these days, much of it full of stereotypes and misinformation. This workshop is a chance for us to speak for ourselves, to tell our own stories in all of their complexity, with all of the quirky, tragic, terrifying and beautiful details that often reveal more universal themes.
People of all levels of experience are welcome to help create what I hope will become a community of writers whose work may include overlapping interests stemming from the diverse experiences of the Middle Eastern diaspora (e.g., migration and cultural hybridity; assimilation, racism and loss; ancestral ties; historical and political legacies; and engagement with mainstream media/literary representations).
Each week, we will discuss examples of published memoirs and essays, as well as each other’s work, and go through the steps of the writing process together⎯from free writing, to outlining, to creating a first, second and third draft. Each class member will finish the course with a piece that, sometimes with a little more revision, could be sent out to journals or expanded into a larger work. Selected essays will be published on the Arte East and Association of Iranian American Writers web sites. Reading materials will be provided.