Ahla friends,
We're feeling highbrow this week. The events below lean intellectual, talks, literature, dance, fusion-music, the kind of stuff you mention at dinner parties to sound cultured. It was genuinely hard to narrow down because there's so much good happening right now, and if you want the full list, the newly revamped website has you covered. (I realize I keep talking about the website. I promise I'll stop.)
Anyway, tons of great work out there, and the free highlight this week is kind of momentous. We now have a permanent art installation for us in Battery Park! I’ve decided to call it a monument, we deserve one. If that wasn’t enough, we also have a festival with more than 80 SWANA artists happening just in the next few days. More below.
Samar
THE SHORTLIST
Handpicked events worth showing up for
LITERATURE
Hisham Matar & Viet Thanh Nguyen Discuss their latest books
Thur April 30th, 7-8:30pm
Central Library-Dweck, Midtown
two Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, Viet Thanh Nguyen & Hisham Matar, who discuss their latest works:To Save and To Destroy and My Friends, while connecting over their most urgent aesthetic & social questions. A conversation that promises to open mind and hearts.
LITERATURE
Mother Dearest: Understanding Our Mothers
Thurs April 30th at 6:30pm
Church Of The Village, Greenwich Village
A panel discussion featuring writers Abdellah Taïa, Gish Jen, and Molly Jong-Fast exploring their relationships with their mothers through three new books. Taïa's 'Living in Your Light' ollows three moments in the life of Malika, a Moroccan countrywoman and fictionalized version of his mother from 1954–1999; Jen's 'Bad Bad Girl' traces her mother's journey from Shanghai in 1924; Jong-Fast's 'How to Lose Your Mother' navigates her mother's dementia. Moderated by Dalia Azim (Egypt), the conversation traverses Morocco, Shanghai, and 1970s NYC.
DANCE + FUNDRAISER
Detritus Dance, a Performance & Fundraiser
Sat May 2d 26th
Pageant, Williamsburg
Watch four digesters traverse the closet of a recently deceased elderly woman. Join Anne, Nathan, Skai, Tor, and Sarah for a showing of "Detritus dance," a live dance performance about gummy worms, ghosts, clutter, and more. This event is a fundraiser and will include a live auction. 50% of funds raised will go directly to a displaced family surviving the genocide in Gaza. 50% to support future dance projects of Sarah's.
THEATER
The Censorship of Dreams
May 1-17th, various sessions
La Mama, East Village
A visually striking, interdisciplinary theater production exploring surveillance, memory, and control in a dystopian world where dreams are the last remnants of the past. Directed by Armenian director Arthur Makaryan and written by Nora Sørena Casey, the play blends theater, technology, and political inquiry to examine how love, language, and the body are reshaped in a world without privacy.
MUSIC
Uncharted: Erika Ji and Miriam Elhajli
Wed May 6th at 8pm
Greenwich House Music School
Moroccan-American song-improviser Miriam Elhajli performs new solo work and collaborations with Cuban pianist Victor Campbell, exploring traditional music from Cuba, Venezuela, and Argentina. Elhajli runs Numina Records, a label documenting women's music from the Maghreb, and her fifth record drops this year. Part of the Uncharted Concert Series
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MUSIC
Mixtape 4: Mona Mansour
Wed May 6th at 7:30pm
Judson Church, West village
Lebanese-American playwright Mona Mansour curates a one-night-only salon featuring Arab-American actors Omar Metwally and George Abud. Poetry readings, oud, song, giving voice to what's happening in Lebanon and Gaza right now
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THE FREE ONE
One free event that got us excited
ART-HISTORY
Grand Opening of Al Qalam, Poets in the Park
Thur April 30th at 11am
Elizabeth H Berger Plaza, FIDI
A permanent art installation in Battery Park that celebrates the first Arabic-speaking community in the U.S., particularly the writers of al Rabitah al Qalamiyah: Kahlil Gibran, Ameen Rihani, Nassib Arida, Ilya Abu Madi. The installation features five mosaic panels by Moroccan-French artist Sara Ouhaddou displaying excerpts from their work in an abstract alphabet she created, plus a sculpture spelling out "al Qalam" (the Pen) in Arabic. The event will feature poetry and live music by the New York Arabic Orchestra
— Want to explore more events? —
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
People, projects, and news from across the community
Emruz Festival Is Back and It’s Offering Space For Us To Gather, Heal, Connect & Celebrate
Emruz means "today" in Farsi, and this year that word feels heavier. For many of us, this year has been defined by profound loss, so gathering has become essential. That's what Emruz Festival is offering across two weekends this spring: a space for connection, care, and the reaffirmation of community. Started in 2019 by Iranian artists who were tired of waiting for someone else to make room for their work, Emruz has grown into something bigger, a festival for the entire SWANA region. This year, Iranian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Turkish, Afghan artists, 80+ featured so far, united by a commitment to collective liberation. This is the kind of message and community we need right now.
The artists themselves are what make this series unique. Each one brings not only excellence in their craft but also deeply personal, distinct voices and aesthetics. For those of us from the diaspora, it's the smells, textures, and colors of home. For those encountering it for the first time, it's a meaningful point of connection and a chance to listen.
Cheers Cinema x Emruz Screening Series
Fiction, documentary, and animation curated from the Emruz Biennial, films about identity, memory, state violence, the whole human experience, paired with cocktails and mocktails inspired by the films' cultural contexts
April 29th - Fiction & documentary Screening. 6:15pm. Info
April 30th - Live Auction + Iranian Women Voices Screening. 8:30pm. Info
April 30th - Animation Screening. 6:15pm. Info
—> all in Brooklyn Heights at $20
The Emruz Full Festival
Three days of music, theater, dance, film. at Brooklyn Art Haus in Williamsburg
May 1st - centers on Iranian and Afghan traditional music, Of Roots and Colors, And the Mountains Echoed, Persian contemporary music.
May 2nd - three theatrical works on displacement and migration, including KISMET by Turkish playwrights, supported by Noor Theatre's partnership.
May 3rd - closes with Ceasefire Later!, a Gaza-focused choreopoem, and Testament of Bondar Bidakhsh, a Persian myth reimagined.
—> $34 get you in
The intention is to bring together artists whose work is not only excellent, but deeply rooted in identity, memory, and cultural expression, creating a platform where those narratives can exist fully and unapologetically.
This is the kind of festival that doesn't happen without people showing up. If you've been looking for a reason to show up, this is it.
To better days -
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As always, thank you for being here.
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— Menna curates cultural content and events for informational purposes only. Event details are subject to change—
