Dear Colleagues,

 

I hope the summer months finds all well!  As some may recall from the annual conference, held in Washington, D.C. this past May, the Herron Art Library/IUPUI University Library entered into an agreement with the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition last year, http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com/  .  Our project, the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Project at IUPUI, site, under development may be visited at http://exhibits.ulib.iupui.edu/amssh/ .   We are building a digital archive of the Coalition’s collection of broadsides and artists books which may be visited at http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/cdm/search/collection/AMSSH .

 

Our agreement with the Coalition ‘gifts’ the library the Coalition’s collection of prints and artists books in exchange for the library hosting 3, biennial symposiums as well as smaller events, managing traveling exhibitions of the Coalition’s collections, and providing a digital presence to the content and activities of the Project at IUPUI.   As part of our symposiums and exhibitions we will manage via the library, we will host poetry readings and smaller exhibitions locally here in Indianapolis.  Our first upcoming exhibition and poetry reading will occur August 1, 2014 at the Harrison Center for the Arts, http://harrisoncenter.org/ .  I have drafted a general announcement and call for poets, and readers which is found below and attached to this email. 

 

I thought I would post the announcement to the listserv in the event that people might be in the area (Indianapolis, IN), have an interest to attend, and/or help us distribute our events and information covering our Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Project at IUPUI.  On behalf of the Herron Library, IUPUI University Library, and the Coalition, we are most appreciative for your time, interest, and support to help us raise awareness to the Coalition’s important work.   Please contact me via email or phone should you like more information. 

 

Best regards!!

 

Sonja

 

Sonja Staum

Director,

Herron Art Library

735 W. New York Street

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Voice: 317.278.9417

Fax: 317.278.9497

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

 

 

Call for Poets, Readers, and Participants

               

Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here at IUPUI

 

Poetry Reading and Exhibition

Harrison Center for the Arts

Gallery No. 2

 

in coordination with

 

Harrison Center for the Arts

Passages exhibition

1505 N. Delaware

Indianapolis, IN 46202

Friday, August 1, 2014

6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

 

IUPUI University Library, the Herron Art Library, and the Harrison Center for the Arts are pleased to announce the upcoming unique exhibition of selections from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition collection of artists books and broadsides, on view in the Harrison Center for the Arts, Gallery No. 2, during the Center’s Passages exhibition, August 1 - 29, 2014.  

 

We are honored and pleased to join the Harrison Center for the Arts to bring awareness to selections from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition collection of broadsides and artists books alongside and as part of the Harrison Center’s Passages exhibition, opening, August 1, 2014, 6 pm – 9 pm.  Please join us at 6:00 pm in Gallery No. 2, for a poetry reading to complement the exhibition and raise awareness to the lasting power the visual and literary arts play in their role to impact social change.

 

On March 5th, 2007, a suicide bomber tragically destroyed this cultural center where scholars, artists, poets, and writers had gathered for centuries.  This renowned street, al-Mutanabbi Street, named for the famous 10th century classical Arab poet, Al-Mutanabbi, had stood as the major literary and cultural center of Baghdad for hundreds of years.   In response to this destructive act against humanity, Beau Beausoleil, poet and bookseller from California, was moved to act in solidarity with the people of Iraq and against such acts.  Now, 7 years later, the Coalition is as strong as ever as it touches poets, artists, writers, and scholars worldwide. 

 

Please join us August 1, 2014, 6:00 pm, at the Harrison Center for the Arts as we become one of the many voices globally to support the Coalition as it stands in a determined expression of solidarity from scholars, poets, writers, and artists with the Arab cultural Communities in the Middle East and North Africa in their continuing struggle for the free exchange of ideas through the sharing of academic, literary, and visual creativity. 

 

We invite poets, readers, and participants to join us during our Harrison Center for the Arts event to read poetry from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Anthology or from an individual’s work as we share in and support in the free exchange of ideas and against such destructive acts on culture.  If you would like to read during our event or would like more information please contact Sonja Staum at [log in to unmask]