Bridging Cultures: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in partnership with City Lore and Poets House, announces a new traveling exhibition that will be hosted by public libraries in six cities across the country. Bridging Cultures: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World will travel to Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan; Jacksonville, Florida; the Borough of Queens in New York, New York and Washington, D.C. Libraries and cities were selected based on geographical distribution, the library’s commitment to the project, and the size and significance of the Muslim population in the city’s population.

Bridging Cultures: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World will tour from the spring of 2013 to the spring of 2014, and will present an eighteen panel traveling exhibit, a series of programs that will explore the various poetic traditions of the Muslim world through scholarly interpretation, and a website with additional resources to accompany the project. Bridging Cultures: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World offers Americans an opportunity to learn the role of poetry in the lives of Muslims worldwide, spiritually, socially, and politically. By examining poetry from four language areas—Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu—the project will demonstrate how poetry can engage language to convey experiences, and artfully express complex ideas and emotions.

For more information, please visit the website created for the project: www.poeticvoicesofthemuslimworld.org.