THE UNOOTHA WRITERS’ PROGRAm 2021

THE PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY IN SESSION

The Unootha Writers’ Program is a month-long virtual summer program that will submerge its participants in all aspects of writing. From literary theory and practice to critique, no aspect will be left unexplored. More than anything, it is a space that allows for writing and reading alongside incredible members of the Southwest Asian and North African writing community. Our 2021 program is sponsored by the US Embassy in Algeria.

THE 2021 COHORT

MEET YOUR COORDINATORS

haneen amr

Haneen Amr is a writer from Cairo. Their work is forthcoming or has appeared in Sumou, Unootha and BAHR magazine.

Lameese Badr

Lameese Badr is a Sudanese poet based in Khartoum; she holds an MA in International Studies in Education and Development from the University of Birmingham and specializes in non-formal education and arts-based research. She is currently UNDP Sudan’s Communications Analyst and has previously managed and coordinated various cultural projects. Her work has appeared in PANK magazine and her debut chapbook “Dust to Dust '' will be published by the African Poetry Book Fund & Akashic Books in Fall 2021.

AIYA SAKR

Aiya Sakr was born in the United States but grew up in Amman, Jordan, with Palestinian and Egyptian heritage. She is the author of Her Bones Catch the Sun (The Poet’s Haven, 2018). A Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared in Mizna, Nimrod, BAHR, and elsewhere. She has a master’s degree in literature and writing from Utah State University. Currently, she’s completing an MFA in poetry at Purdue University, where she serves as Poetry Editor for Sycamore Review.

Tasneem maher

Tasneem Maher is an Arab writer and poet who encourages theatrics and melodrama of any kind. A Best of the Net nominee, her work has been featured or is forthcoming in Vagabond City Lit, Kissing Dynamite, Flypaper Lit, and Jaffat El Aqlam, amongst others. She is also Fiction and Personal Essays Editor at Sumou Mag. She tweets @mythosgal.

Lina Baaziz

Lina Baaziz (she/her) is a full-time graduate student, a published writer, and the executive director of the Algerian Writing Program. Lina has taught creative writing for 3 years at the American Cultural Space at UFMC1 and is an alumna of the Between The Lines writing program and the Women Deliver Young Leaders 2018-2019 Cohort. She combines her two passions, gender equality and writing, through planning and conducting workshops that advocate for social justice via writing and artistic expression. 

Languages and Dialects:  Darija (DZ), Arabic (Standard), English (US), French (FR), Spanish (ES)

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