Mission
Established in 1993, RAWI is a national organization that provides mentoring, community, and support for Arab American writers and those with roots in the Arabic-speaking world and diaspora. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) literary organization dedicated to supporting and disseminating creative writing and scholarly writing by Arab/SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) Americans and those from the Arabic-speaking world–which often means creating space and highlighting voices and people threatened by erasure. We put on readings, panels, workshops, roundtables, conferences, and festivals that emphasize inclusivity.
(Photo credit: Shiyam Galyon, 2019.)
Vision
RAWI is committed to a hospitality that comes from a belief that our bayt is large. We are committed to creating a safe community space that opposes empire, white supremacy, racism, zionism, patriarchy, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and all repressive ideologies that diminish humanity. We are committed to nurturing writers to create works that aim for our liberation, resisting the orientalizing impulses of American and Western political and literary culture.
History
Established in 1993, RAWI has been dedicated to supporting and disseminating creative writing and scholarly writing by Arab/SWANA Americans and those from the Arabic speaking world since its inception, creating resources and opportunities and uplifting historically marginalized voices. RAWIFest, co-hosted by Mizna, is a biannual conference that has been held for three decades, bringing together Arab and SWANA creatives–not only poets, prose writers, and playwrights, but visual artists, performance artists, musicians, educators and scholars–both in diaspora in North America as well as from the Arabic speaking world and other countries.