and from the inside in

Kim Jensen is a Baltimore-based writer, educator, and activist whose books include a novel, The Woman I Left Behind,
and two collections of poetry, Bread Alone and The Only Thing that Matters. Active in the peace and justice movement
for many years, Kim’s articles, poems, and stories have been featured in numerous journals and anthologies, including
Bomb Magazine, Rain Taxi, Al Jadid Magazine, The Baltimore Sun, The Oakland Tribune, Baltimore Review, Left Curve, Al
Ahram Weekly, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and many others. In 2001 she won the Raymond Carver Award
for short fiction; her recent doctoral dissertation is a new novel called Forget Jerusalem. She is associate professor of
English at the Community College of Baltimore County where she is the founding director of The Community Book
Connection, an interdisciplinary literacy initiative that demonstrates the vital connection between classroom learning
and social justice issues in the broader community.
Farheen B. Khan is a British, Dubai-based Writer. Described as a talker, reader, laugher and hoarder of shiny things,
she has published articles for Business, Travel and Lifestyle magazines. She has a degree in Business Management from
Kings College London and completed several writing courses (Oxford University, Faber Academy, Dubai International
Writer’s Centre). She has written a psychological thriller which is being reviewed by publishers, and writes short stories,
plays, articles and blogs. For more info go to: www.farheenbkhan.com
Omar Khalifa is a Dubai-based Egyptian fan of certain forms of literature who sometimes writes. He is devotedly and
superficially interested in history, politics, poetry and sociology.
Born in a village outside of Nazareth, Palestinian artist Zahi Khamis now teaches and lives in Baltimore, Maryland with
his wife, author and poet Kim Jensen, and his two children. Informed by the Palestinian story - and his own life in exile -
Zahi’s paintings attempt to capture universal themes of memory, tragedy, and yearning.
Darius M. Klein is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Indiana University’s Department of Comparative Literature. He
obtained an M.A. in Comparative Literature at University of Washington in 2012. The foci of his studies have been literary
translation, Arabic language and literature, Latin language and literature, Hermetic studies, and Native American oral
literature.
Qassim Haddad (b. 1948) is widely recognized as one of the first major Arab poets to use free verse. As a translator,
Darius was first drawn to Haddad’s work by its unique fusion of lyrical, and sometimes mysterious imagery, with themes
that address concerns of revolutionary societal change. Few poets, Darius believes, demonstrate such skill in conveying
the essence of experiences usually beyond the power of human speech to express. Although Haddad’s poetry in
some ways resembles that of Adonis, one of his influences, his political commitments impart a greater sense of hope
and humanitarian concern to the struggle against tyranny and oppression. Qassim Haddad’s skill is evident in the
two attached poems, With the Children and From the Eye of the Sun, which were published in Haddad’s first volume
of poetry, Good Omen (1970). In these poems, Haddad envisions social change as an ineffable, almost mystical
experience, with imagery suggestive of messianic renewal and childhood nostalgia.
Pam Laskin is a professor at The City College and Director of The Poetry Outreach Center at the college. She is working
on the completion of RONIT AND JAMIL, a Palestinian/Israeli ROMEO AND JULIET, in verse, for young adults. Four of her
poetry books have been published as well as two young adult novels.
Ali Latife is a medical student in Libya. He writes as a hobby to express frustrations and grief.
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