Fowles Literary Forum focuses on Israeli, Jewish and Arab writers

Chapman University’s
John Fowles Center for Creative Writing
celebrates the 13th anniversary of the John Fowles Literary Forum Visiting Writers Series with  readings by six prominent Israeli, Jewish and Arab authors beginning with Rabih Alameddine  on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. 
Mark Axelrod, Ph.D.,
professor of English at Chapman University and director of the John Fowles Center, has always wanted to do a series with Jewish and Arab authors and “this was the year,” he said. Each author will give a reading, followed by a Q&A and a book signing.

All readings will be held in the Doy and Dee Henley Reading Room, second floor of Leatherby Libraries. Admission is free, and the series is open to the public.

Here is the speaker schedule:

Feb. 22 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Rabih Alameddine

A Lebanese American painter and writer. He began his career as an engineer, then moved to writing and painting.  He is the author of three novels —
Koolaids, I, the Divine
and
The Hakawati
— as well as
The Perv
, a collection of short stories, and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

March 8 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Willis Barnstone

American poet, translator, scholar, anthologist. His publications include
Modern European Poetry
,
The Other Bible
, 
The Secret Reader: 501 Sonnets
, 
To Touch the Sky
and

The New Covenant: The Four Gospels and Apocalypse
(his literary translation of the New Testament). A Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright professor and Pulitzer Prize finalist in poetry.

March 22 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Micheline Aharonian Marcom

Born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and raised in Los Angeles. Author of five novels, including a trilogy of books about the Armenian genocide and its aftermath in the 20th century. Her second novel,
The Daydreaming Boy
, won the PEN/USA Award for Fiction.

April 12 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Alex Epstein

Made Israel his home in 1980 after living in Russia. Has published a book of poetry, two collections of short stories and three novels. He writes for the literary supplements of the daily newspapers,
Haaretz
and
Yedioth Ahronoth.

April 19 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Amir Gutfreund

Recipient of the Sapir Prize for
The Shoreline Mansions
and the Book Publishers Association’s Gold Book Prize for
Our Holocaust
. After studying applied mathematics at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, he joined the Israeli Air Force where he now works in the field of mathematical research.

May 3 (Monday) at 7 p.m. — Elias Khoury

Lebanese novelist, playwright and critic. Author of 10 novels, which have been translated into several foreign languages. Written three plays. Currently serves as editor of Al-Mulhaq, the weekly cultural supplement of the Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Nahar.