Join us in marking International Women's Day on March 9th for 'In Their Voices: Muslim Women in Literature,' a gathering featuring readings from talented writers from CCMW and beyond, and sharing their unique stories that shape our literary world. This is an opportunity to celebrate the creativity and voices of Muslim women in literature.
Saturday, March 9th, 2024
2:00 - 3:30 PM EST | Zoom
Speakers
Firdaus Ali is currently employed by CCMW, as their National Project Manager and is an active voice on diversity, equity& inclusion. She has led several health equity initiatives for national and provincial organizations and believes in blending creative programming with savvy media campaigns to open constructive dialogue on humanitarian and feminist issues.
A journalist in her earlier life, Firdaus continues to write on films and theatre, and was perhaps the first female journalist from India to dress as a man and walk the lively streets of Bombay to explore gender diversity and expression. A proud Gandhian, Firdaus lives by the philosophy: You must be the change you want to see in the world! She writes poetry to survive when her world gets chaotic and about to crumble.
Hana Shafi, who illustrates under the name Frizz Kid, is a Desi and Iranian artist and writer. Both her visual art and writing frequently explore themes such as feminism, body politics, mental health, and more. Her first book, It Begins With The Body, was selected by CBC books as one of the best poetry books of 2018. Her third book People You Know, Places You've Been, a compilation of her poetry and illustrations, is out now.
Rahat Kurd lives in Vancouver. Currently she is working on a book-length poem and a memoir. The daughter and grand-daughter of Kashmiri women, Rahat has studied Urdu and Persian poetry for several years. Her work includes COSMOPHILIA (Talonbooks 2015), a collection of poems, and THE CITY THAT IS LEAVING FOREVER: KASHMIRI LETTERS (Talonbooks 2021) a hybrid book of correspondence and poetics co-authored with the Kashmiri poet Sumayya Syed.
Shaheen Sayed was raised under the tutelage of the great women of CCMW since its inception. A management consultant and mompreneur, she focuses on elevating people and systems to thrive. Shaheen processes emotions and experiences with the written word as a form of spiritual practice to fortify faith.
Silmy Abdullah is a Bangladeshi Canadian writer and lawyer. She is the author of the short story collection Home of the Floating Lily, A debut work of fiction that highlights the Bangladeshi immigrant experience in Toronto, as well as in their family homes in Bangladesh. The book was a finalist for the 2021 Danuta Gleed Literary Award and long listed for the 2022 Toronto Book Awards.
Sobia Shaheen Shaikh is an antiracist-feminist community organizer, writer, and academic committed to using her work to challenging systemic injustice. Sobia is currently a faculty member at the School of Social Work, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL. As a community organizer, Sobia serves as co-chair of the Anti-Racism Coalition NL and Addressing Islamophobia in NL, as well as several other national and local anti-racist initiatives.
Sobia is a published author of academic texts and short stories. She is a member of the writing and theatre communities locally and nationally. Sobia is working on a new play, "Braiding Peonies," which follows the experience of a family grappling with the aftermath of a racist, anti-Muslim violent encounter.