Two vital events at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA


The first is “Islamophobia and its Discontents,” a panel discussion on Wednesday April 5th at 6:00 pm West Lecture Hall, FPH, Hampshire College. It will feature the filmmaker Mara Ahmed, who will speak on “Being Muslim in America.” She will be joined by Professors George Fourlas (Philosophy) of Hampshire who will address “Islamophobia as Racism,”and Mehammed Mack (French Literature), Smith College, speaking on “Islamophobia in France.”   





The next day, Thursday April 6th at 5:30 pm, also in West Lecture Hall, Mara Ahmed will present her most recent film, A Thin Wall, which focuses on the 1947 Partition of India but derives lessons that remain urgently relevant today. Shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan, and co-producted by Mara Ahmed and Surbhi Dewan, both descendants of families torn apart by Partition, A Thin Wall is about memory, history, and the possibility of reconciliation, told through stories passed down from one generation to another. It was screened in May 2015 at the Bradford Literature Festival, UK, and officially selected by film festivals in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Montreal and Dublin. 



The events are sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, South Asian Political Cultures, Eqbal Ahmad Initiative, School of Critical Social Inquiry, Office of Diversity and Multicultural Education, Law Program, Spiritual Life, and Third World Studies.

For more information see: https://www.hampshire.edu/news/2017/03/10/filmmakers-panel-on-islamophobia-being-muslim-in-america

Please spread the word and if you're in the area, see you there!

THINNER THAN SKIN is out in Turkey!

THINNER THAN SKIN has a new home, in Turkey, the first of my books to be published in this country that I fell in love with on a visit back in 1999. Perhaps I'll go again, and see you there. In the meantime, if you speak Turkish or know folks who do, spread the word and check out this interview with me:

http://www.kulturmafyasi.com/denizleri-asip-buzullara-tirmanmak-ister-misiniz/