Let's Talk About It : Muslim Journeys: Press Releases

 Dean B. Ellis Library awarded grant from NEH and ALA to host
“Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys” reading and discussion series

JONESBORO, AR – The Dean B. Ellis Library at Arkansas State University received a $3,500 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA) to host a five-part reading and discussion series titled “Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys.” Dean B. Ellis Library is one of 125 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to participate in the project, which seeks to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world. The Muslim Journeys theme that Dean B. Ellis Library has chosen to explore is Pathways of Faith.

“We are delighted to have been chosen to host this unique series that will allow patrons a chance to discuss some important themes in Muslim history and literature with the help of a well-qualified scholar,” said Jeff Bailey, Library Director.

The first program will explore The Children of Abraham : Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F.E. Peters. All programs will be free and open to the public. For details or to register, please visit http://www.libguides.astate.edu/muslim or contact April Sheppard at (870) 972-2766 or asheppard@astate.edu. 

Dr. John Kaltner, Virginia Ballou McGehee Professor of Muslim-Christian Relations at Rhodes College, will lead a discussion of the book at each session.

All of the books to be discussed in this series are part of the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys. The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies, and Islamic studies.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf is a project of NEH, conducted in cooperation with the ALA Public Programs Office, with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts. Local support is provided by the Jonesboro Public Library.

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Dean B. Ellis Library awarded Muslim Journeys Bookshelf
collection from NEH, ALA

State University, AR – The Dean B. Ellis Library is one of 840 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to receive the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the American Library Association (ALA). The program aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world.

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf includes the following titles, organized by theme:

American Stories:

• A Quiet Revolution by Leila Ahmed
• Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford
• The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV
• Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel
• The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson

Connected Histories:

• The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance by Jim Al-Khalili
• In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh
• When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East” by Stewart Gordon
• Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf, translated by Peter Sluglett
• The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal

Literary Reflections

• Minaret by Leila Aboulela
• The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy
• The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely

Pathways of Faith

• Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan A. C. Brown
• The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson
• The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F. E. Peters
• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Rumi: Poet and Mystic, edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson

Points of View

• In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• House of Stone by Anthony Shadid
• Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie

Art Architecture and Film

• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Islamic Arts by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair
• Islamic Art Spots (short films designed, written, and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, and produced by Twin Cities Public Television)
• Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (2011)
• Prince Among Slaves (2007)
• Koran by Heart (2011)

The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies, and Islamic studies.

For information about these new materials, please visit http://libguides.astate.edu/muslim or contact April Sheppard, (870) 972-2766 or asheppard@astate.edu.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association. Major support for the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf was provided by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Local support is provided by the ASU Muslim Student Association.

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