RAWI 1.0.

My experience at RAWI was quite the opposite of BEA. The conference took place at Hunter College, and there were perhaps 100 attendees–you could actually hear a conversation while you were having it. You didn’t need to raise your voice over the din. So I was able to have real discussions with fellow Arab American writers, on topics of huge interest to all of us.

The panel on blogs was well-attended, and though I felt nervous that the amazing Naomi Shihab Nye was in the audience, I think it went very well. And I got to spend some time with Leila Abu Saba, as well as with Randa Jarrar, who’s been guesting on Fridays at Moorishgirl for quite some time. It was like meeting old friends–they were both exactly as I’d imagined they would be. Randa shares her own thoughts here, and Leila echoes a call for action here.