CHANGING THE NARRATIVE ON IMMIGRATION & HOW WE LIVE TOGETHER:
WE THE INTERWOVEN, VOLUME 3
RARE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS OF THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND
In this third volume in the series, Eyad Said and his young family must build a life together in the U.S. while contending with the horrors facing their people back in Syria. Palestinian American Dhuha Tawil grapples with her decision whether or not to wear the hijab. Shalini Jasti tries to balance her love of the English language with her mother’s desire to preserve her connection to their Indian culture and mother tongue. Vanessa “Cueponi Cihuatl” Espinoza tells of her first legal documents after crossing the Mexican–U.S. border as a child. In a moving letter to his parents, George Khal looks back on his life in Palestine, Egypt, and Iowa. Hibbah Jarmakani tells of her family’s struggle to create a new home in Iowa after leaving their generational home behind in Syria. After speaking truth to power as a journalist in Sudan, Salma Salama migrates to Cairo and then the United States, where she must start anew in her career, language, and community.
America is at a crossroads. In the great experiment of democracy, a defining moment has arrived. What kind of country do we want to be? These seven stories show us that the country is as complex as the people who live in it and that every resident plays a role in determining the America of tomorrow.
Impact of We the Interwoven
With the release of Volume 3, the We the Interwoven series will have featured the voices of seventeen bicultural and immigrant writers, with translations into eight different languages: Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Spanish, Tagalog, Telugu, and Vietnamese. Libraries play an invaluable role in building community and leading conversations, and the WTI series is now available in over 80 libraries across the state, with accompanying free resources for community conversations.
The voices behind the book
The Bicultural Iowa Writers’ Fellowship offers space and time for writers to explore their multilayered identities and the platform to share their stories with a state-wide audience, including publication in the We the Interwoven book series. This program creates a testimonial as a professionally published artwork that tells a new story of our state. Volume 3 will introduce seven new voices: Shalini Jasti, George Khal, Salma Salama, Hibbah Jarmakani, Dhuha Tawil, Eyad Said, and Vanessa “Cueponicihuatl” Espinoza.
“The writers capture the complexities of the entire human experience through the depths of the bicultural journey. There is pain and healing, war and peace, fighting and resting; there is something for everyone here.”
—Amal Kassir, Syrian American poet and storytelling activist
Recent Iowa Writers’ House Highlights
We the Interwoven Volume 2 Chosen by Hawkeye Community College as their ALL HAWKEYE READS Selection for 2021/2022.
Humanities Iowa Partners with the Iowa Writers’ House for We the Interwoven Audiobook.
Andrea Wilson and Sadagat Aliyeva deliver 2021 Iowa Library Association Conference Keynote.
GALLERY OF MOMENTS
