We are proud to announce our second year of hosting a Humanities NY Reading and Discussion series. Muslim Journeys will meet five Mondays from 6-8pm beginning September 18 (no meeting Columbus Day). The readings will focus on Muslims in America, native born Americans as well as immigrants making a new home in America. The program will be facilitated by Karuna Foudriat, a peace educator who has lectured on Islam including co-teaching a course on the Abrahamic religions with a rabbi and Anglican priest at Lev Shalem Institute of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation.
This series gives community members time to explore a single idea from a variety of perspectives, allowing texts to become catalysts for civic engagement, cultural understanding, and personal reflection. Participants will explore three main texts: Minaret by Leila Aboulela, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi, and Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, in the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation by Eboo Patel.
Registration is limited to 20 participants and is on a first come/first serve basis. Please visit the front desk at the Hudson Area Library, email brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org, or call 518.828.1792 x101 to sign up.
This program is free and open to the public, and is made possible in part with funds from Humanities New York. Books will be provided by the library, on loan and free of charge. The sessions will take place in the main floor of the library, which is wheelchair accessible.
Muslim Journeys is part of a series of fall programming, leading up to a special workshop performance of A Thousand Splendid Suns, a new opera in progress by composer Sheila Silver and librettist Stephen Kitsakos, based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini. The novel and opera chronicle thirty years of Afghan history through the deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love. There will be a program with the composer and the librettist on Thursday, September 28 at 6 pm titled “A Thousand Splendid Suns: Turning A Novel into an Opera Libretto”. In conjunction with this program, our library Book Group will be discussing the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns for their November meeting on Wednesday, November 8 at 4pm. Then the library will present a film screening of Act I of the opera on Thursday, November 9 at 6pm, hosted by the composer. And, finally, there will be two workshop performances of Act II on Saturday, November 18, at 1pm and 4pm.