How can women lead social progress, preserving the best in a culture while changing the worst?Exploring the ways in which tradition can preserve damaging ideas – about gender, disability, and more – the panel looks at the role literature can play in improving lives and opening up important discussions.
Sheikha Hend Al Qassemi is the author of The Black Book of Arabia, a collection of stories that offer a surprising look into the personal lives of women of the Arabian Gulf.
Dr Shahd Al Shammari teaches literature at the Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait and is the author of Notes on the Flesh, a biomythography that deals with gender, race, and disability in Kuwait.Zeina Hashem Beck is a Lebanese poet and the author of the new collection Louder Than Hearts, which won the 2016 May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize.This panel is moderated by Lana Shamma.Language: English with Arabic translation