Mizna

THANK YOU! We reached our $10,000 goal. We've added a stretch goal to help support more authors and filmmakers in 2023!

Help us  raise $10,000  for MIZNA's  Black SWANA Issue! GUEST-EDITED BY SAFIA ELHILLO

Led by an all-Black editorial team and guest-edited by internationally acclaimed poet Safia Elhillo, this special issue of Mizna goes beyond inclusivity and toward creative control. Mizna 23.2 will be a gathering space for Black SWANA voices and ideas, reflecting the multidimensional realities within our communities.

Help us with this exciting project! Support our efforts with an indispensable financial contribution.

Consider a monthly donation of any amount—$5, $25, $100. Giving on a regular schedule is a wonderful, sustaining gift that ensures Mizna continues its important work. We'll send you a beautiful Mizna tote bag, designed by Wael Morcos, when you commit monthly donation of any amount!

Look what your support makes possible

In addition to being hard at work producing the Black SWANA Issue, Mizna has had an eventful year! Take a spin through Mizna’s 2022.

	Mizna celebrated the life and legacy of Etel Adnan, the major artist, philosopher, and poet who we recently lost. Mizna honored Adnan in a series of film and literary events, including screening ISMYRNA by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, publishing Mizna 23.1 with Adnan’s artworks and written tributes, hosting a conversation with Adnan’s peers, and compiling a digital collection in her honor.
	Mizna published the forty-sixth issue of our biannual journal of Arab and SWANA literature and art, Mizna 23.1 the summer 2022 issue which features artwork by Etel Adnan and a tribute to her life, work, and legacy. We celebrated the release with a virtual reading.
	The 16th Arab Film Fest returned this year, exploring the theme of Diaspora. Featuring special opening and closing events, in-person and virtual screenings of twenty-eight films from the SWANA region and beyond, discussions, visiting filmmakers, workshops, and a magical closing night outdoor screening under the stars. Mizna was thrilled to welcome in-person crowds safely back to the theater—it was a beautiful reminder of the power of art and ideas to build community.
	Mizna expanded journal distribution internationally and is now available in bookstores across Europe, SWANA, and North America. For an indie art + literary journal, distribution is a major challenge, and this is an exciting chance to connect the work of our authors and artists with a wider readership.
	Mizna spotlighted the work of acclaimed Lebanese artist-filmmaker duo Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige. The Summer Mizna Film Series presented a retrospective of their work. As part of the Arab Film Fest, Mizna presented their most recent film, Memory Box, with Khalil Joreige in attendance. Khalil also led a filmmaking workshop while in town. Khalil and Joana were also interviewed in Mizna 23.1 about their creative relationship with Etel Adnan.
	After a successful debut last year, the Arab Film Fest returned to Tulsa for a second year presenting acclaimed contemporary films and featuring special guests, local restaurants, and community partnerships.
	Mizna hired an all-Black journal takeover team of editors, writers, designers, curators, and programmers to lead the publication process of the Black SWANA Issue. This special issue is guest-edited by acclaimed Sudanese-American poet Safia Elhillo.
	To celebrate Arab Heritage Month, Mizna partnered with the Arab American National Museum, ArteEast, and the Arab Film and Media Institute to present the Arab Film Fest Collab for the second year, bringing back selected programs from each organization’s individual 2021 film programming for a best-of-our-fests event.
	Mizna celebrated the Experimental Issue, guest-edited by Tarik Dobbs and featuring visual art by Michael Rakowitz. The issue challenges conventional forms, language, and ideas within literary processes and traditions. As part of the digital programs associated with the issue, Mizna published pieces on mizna.org from Solmaz Sharif, Mohammed El-Kurd, and Tarik Dobbs.
	Mizna Film Series entered its second year of programming, presenting a Palestine-focused film trilogy titled Route 181, restored diasporic Algerian films, a retrospective of Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige’s works, and an extension of the 16th Arab Film Fest in October and November, with two award-winning SWANA films fresh from Cannes Film Festival.
	Mizna presented readings virtually and in-person across the US such as  •Mizna at Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey •The Mizna 23.1 Virtual Launch •The I Want Sky Reading in New York City hosted with Morcos Key and Asian American Writers' Workshop •AWP Offsite Experimental Issue Reading in Philadelphia, PA, hosted with Al-Bustan •Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s reading in St. Paul for her debut poetry collection in English and we worked to organize her seven-city US book tour •The Experimental Issue Virtual Launch.