#kashua

[coverspy]

Dancing Arabs, Sayed Kashua (F, 20s, black hair with bangs, seated on G train)

[cornellcas]

Syed Kashua to speak at Cornell

Syed Kashua, a Palestinian-Israeli writer will speak at Cornell on "The Foreign Mother Tongue" at 4:30 March 25 in 165 McGraw Hall. Kashua is known for his books and humorous columns in Hebrew. This event is free and open to the public.

"Sayed Kashua is a Palestinian-Israeli public intellectual, writing in Hebrew to an Israeli audience of Jews and Arabs. The television sit-com he wrote and developed, 'Arab Labor,' was popular with a broad audience in Israel," said Deborah Starr, an associate professor of Modern Arabic and Hebrew literature and film in the department of Near Eastern Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. She said, "As his television series demonstrates, he treats difficult subjects with a light touch and a sense of humor."

Kashua is coming to Cornell as an extension of two courses she is teaching this semester: Minorities of the Middle East, and Palestinians in Israel. His visit is hosted by the Department of Near Eastern Studies with support of the Hope and Eli Hurowitz Fund, and is co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program, the Society for the Humanities, the Ottoman & Turkish Studies Initiative, Cornell Hillel, the Mediterranean Studies Initiative, and the Institute for Comparative Modernities.