Writers Hayan Charara and Marwa Helal bring viewers into one of the most intimate spaces that straddles both the public and private dominion of the home: the balakonah or balcony. The balakonah across the Arab world is a space where families and friends go to gather, relax, hang laundry, express dissent or support in the protests that culminated in the Arab Spring. Join us in the liminal space of this project’s debut. We will look at how Arab Americans have recreated these sanctuaries of their homelands in America.
Hayan Charara and Marwa Helal present The Balakonah Project
Hayan Charara
Hayan Charara’s poetry books are Something Sinister (2016), The Sadness of Others (2006), and The Alchemist’s Diary (2001). He also edited Inclined to Speak (2008), an anthology of contemporary Arab American poetry, and wrote an award-winning children’s book, The Three Lucys (2016). Along with Fady Joudah, he is founder and series editor of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He lives and teaches in Houston, Texas.
Marwa Helal
Marwa Helal is a poet and journalist. She is the author of Invasive species (Nightboat Books, 2019) and winner of BOMB Magazine’s Biennial 2016 Poetry Contest. She has been awarded fellowships from Poets House, Brooklyn Poets, and Cave Canem. Born in Al Mansurah, Egypt, Helal currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.