An award-winning author read excerpts from her memoir and essays at an event on Tuesday about her experiences as a Black, Muslim woman.
The English department invited Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, who won the Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction, to share her memoir, “Heir to the Crescent Moon,” at the Writers Reading event in the Humanities theater.
“I … think that being able to inspire people is a rewarding part of this kind of work,” Abdur-Rahman said. “There needs to be more nonfiction writers out there in the world [and] other people telling their stories so that we all can have a greater understanding of who we are as people.”
The English department sponsors three Writers Reading events a semester. In February, it invited writer James Allen Hall to read poetry for the event.
Professor Garrett Brown, the Creative Writing department coordinator, said he organized this event for aspiring writers to learn from a professional.
“One of the responsibilities of the program is to curate the reading series and to bring in writers for, you know, our students to listen and learn from,” Brown said. “I’m looking for quality writing, I’m looking for someone who is published … [and] diversity in the kinds of voices that I bring in.”
It’s “always fun” to speak to other writers, according to Abdur-Rahman.
“They’re a little bit more perceptive,” Abdur-Rahman said. “[They] catch nuances that other listeners may not.”
Abdur-Rahman said she interviewed “a lot of different people” to gather information for her memoir.
“[It] was important to get into the story, no matter who was telling it,” Abdur-Rahman said. “Getting information that way … did serve me well in writing.”
According to Sierra Luers, who introduced Abdur-Rahman, the memoir was “momentous and graceful, yet [a] fierce offering of a truth that has been relentlessly rejected and desperate.”
Luers, an English and creative writing student, said she recommends the event to other students.
“[They] don’t even have to be an English or writing student… all students could benefit from events like this,” Luers, the editor-in-chief of Amaranth, said.
