Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1998, Page 34

Special Report

RAWI (Radius of Arab-American Writers) Provides Creative Matrix for Writers Across America

By Abdeen Jabara

One of the most exciting developments among Americans of Arab ancestry over the past decade has been the emergence of a number of artists, poets, novelists, essayists and journalists who have publicly identified themselves as being Arab-American. While some of these individuals are first generation, most are second and third. All of them have had an extraordinarily rich and varied creative output in either Arabic, English or both.

It was at the 1992 ADC convention in Washington, DC that several of the writers gathered informally to discuss their common needs as writers within American society and the possibility of forming an Arab-American writers' group. Shortly afterward, a letter was circulated announcing formation of the group and inviting membership. The initial letter spelled out aims of the group as follows:

1. To encourage our Arab youth to write.
   
   
2. To urge members to publish their work.
   
   
3. To offer members a professional network.
   
   
4. To support our brother and sister writers living in the Arab world, perhaps linking up with Arab writers' unions abroad.
   
   
5. To welcome established writers as well as writers beginning their careers.
   
   
6. To prepare a guide to Arab writers.

The group's first activity was an announcement that one of its members would conduct a writing workshop for Arab children at an upcoming ROOTS convention. A second letter went out to members and prospective members reporting that 14 members had met at the 1993 ADC convention. That letter went on to report literary news, publications of volumes of poetry and novels, and the start-up of an Arab reading group in Boston.

Barbara Nimri Aziz, a producer at New York's Pacifica radio station, WBAI, had been functioning as organizing director of the group, tentatively titled Arab Writers' Group. While the newsletter continued to send out news of its members and others in literary pursuits, the group's founding board, chaired by well-known novelist Etel Adnan, met and decided that its new name would be RAWI, an acronym for Radius of Arab-American Writers. This name was selected because RAWI, in Arabic, means "storyteller."

In the spring of 1994 RAWI's newsletter adopted a more professional format. One page, reporting on "What Our Writers Are Doing," contained entries for more than 20 members all over the United States—in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, New York and elsewhere—and gave readers a glimpse of Arab-American literary contributions worldwide.

Especially exhilarating was the number of poetry publications and readings and novels. Even more encouraging was the fact that many members had received awards and honors for their work.

By the summer of 1994, the RAWI newsletter had its name in Arabic under its English-language title, and educational institutions were writing to the New York director's office to subscribe. More and more, RAWI's newsletter and periodic functions became a meeting ground and network for persons of Arab heritage who are writers, journalists and academics.

"We should be full of romance and heroism and mystery..."

RAWI's emergence as a serious organizing effort of Arab Americans who are professionally or non-professionally involved in writing and the arts comes at a time of greater national awareness of Arab-Americans as an emergent community within the American quilt of many colors—one whose experiences, traditions and culture provided a very distinct hue that was neither black nor white.

Even more significant, though largely unrecognized, is the fact that the modern Arab-American literary product is urban and strongly influenced by the interaction of the writers with the Black experience in America. Several of the writers either focused on the work of Black poets and writers, or their own maturation in urban neighborhoods and in racially mixed schools.

What is striking from a review of the 15 issues of the RAWI newsletter that have gone out to members since the organization's founding some five years ago is the number of Arab-American writers who are publishing, reading their work, participating in or conducting workshops, putting together anthologies, and receiving awards.

Among them are Etel Adnan, Haas Mroue, Lamea Abbas Amara, Pauline Kaldas, Khaled Mattawa, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lawrence Joseph, Lorene Zarou Zoozounis, Ron David, David Williams, Diana Abu Jaber, D.H. Melhem. The list goes on and on.

This multiplication of Arab-American writers has been accompanied by the independent publication of a new cultural newspaper, al Jadid, edited and published by Eli Chalala in Los Angeles and distributed nationwide, that covers Arab and Arab-American writing, film and art. Additionally, a multilingual journal of poems, essays, stories and articles, JUSOOR (Bridges), published by RAWI member Munir Akash beginning in the Winter of 1993, is another testimonial to the growing cultural awareness and a vehicle for its expression in Arab-America today.

RAWI's board is situated in New York City and meets periodically to plan for the growth and development of the organization. Recently incorporated as a non-profit organization, it has applied for tax-exempt status and plans to increase its outreach and the networking of Arab-American writers and persons in the arts generally.

A new membership directory and RAWI sampler of member writings are in the works, and investigation of a special RAWI Web site is under way. Universities and editors at major publishing houses are asking for copies of RAWI's newsletter. Under consideration is a proposal to compile and publish a complete list of all books published by RAWI members, which RAWI then would offer for sale.

What some members of RAWI have proposed is well-expressed by Ron David, board member and former newsletter editor, who wrote: "Maybe we could even use RAWI to help us regain our sense of 'romance.' Arabs are romantic, writers are romantic—so we should be full of romance and heroism and mystery...but we aren't, we've lost it. We've been so busy defending ourselves against our detractors, proving that we're every bit as dull as they are, that we've become boring loaves of white bread. We've lost part of our souls. Maybe RAWI could help us get them back. There is one way that occurs to me right off: Let one of us write a book of such power and beauty that its light will reflect on us all."

This, of course, is a tall order, but it's possible, and it's this possibility that RAWI is partially about. To join in this effort with your membership send your $25 dues for a year's membership to: RAWI, P.O. Box 620, Prince Street Station, New York, NY 10012.