Wendy’s Subway: Symbols of Palestinian Resistance
Room: The Dweck Center, Basement Level
In the young adult anthology, “Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah” (Wendy's Subway, 2023), writers, artists and scholars explore the rich ethical tradition of social justice within Jewish culture and embrace the practice of inquiry and discourse that extends beyond cultural boundaries by incorporating voices from the Palestinian and diasporic communities. Together, we will explore how the watermelon, cactus, and olive tree have become symbols of Palestinian life and resistance.
Participants
Sumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer and organizer focusing on Palestine, Islamophobia, immigration, and labor. She is Director of Strategy at the Adalah Justice Project and co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Morgan Bassichis is an anti-zionist Jewish comedian, musician, and writer living in Brooklyn. Their work has been presented by Abrons Arts Center, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, and the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University. They co-edited with Jay Saper and Rachel Valinsky the young adult anthology Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah, published by Wendy's Subway in 2023.
Mahdi Sabbagh is a writer, architect, and urbanist. He is a co-curator of PalFest, the Palestine Festival of Literature. His work has been published in the Journal of Public Culture, Jerusalem Quarterly, Architecture of the Territory (Kaph Books, 2022), Open Gaza (AUC Press, 2021), Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah (Wendy's Subway, 2023), The Funambulist, Arab Urbanism, and PLATFORM. He is the editor of Their Borders, Our World: Building New Solidarities with Palestine, a forthcoming PalFest publication from Haymarket Press. Mahdi is also an Editor at Large at the Avery Review and a 2023 Matakyev Research Fellow at the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands.
Jay Saper is an artist, writer, translator, and organizer who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Their artist books and zines honoring the legacy of Yiddish print and activist culture, under the imprint Pashkevil Press, are held in the collection of the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Along with Morgan Bassichis and Rachel Valinsky, Jay is co-editor of Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah (Wendy’s Subway 2023).
Rachel Valinsky is a writer, translator, and editor living in New York, where she serves as Artistic Director at Wendy’s Subway, a reading room, writing space, and independent publisher; and Managing Editor at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances in New York.
Room: The Dweck Center, Basement Level
In the young adult anthology, “Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah” (Wendy's Subway, 2023), writers, artists and scholars explore the rich ethical tradition of social justice within Jewish culture and embrace the practice of inquiry and discourse that extends beyond cultural boundaries by incorporating voices from the Palestinian and diasporic communities. Together, we will explore how the watermelon, cactus, and olive tree have become symbols of Palestinian life and resistance.
Participants
Sumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer and organizer focusing on Palestine, Islamophobia, immigration, and labor. She is Director of Strategy at the Adalah Justice Project and co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Morgan Bassichis is an anti-zionist Jewish comedian, musician, and writer living in Brooklyn. Their work has been presented by Abrons Arts Center, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, and the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University. They co-edited with Jay Saper and Rachel Valinsky the young adult anthology Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah, published by Wendy's Subway in 2023.
Mahdi Sabbagh is a writer, architect, and urbanist. He is a co-curator of PalFest, the Palestine Festival of Literature. His work has been published in the Journal of Public Culture, Jerusalem Quarterly, Architecture of the Territory (Kaph Books, 2022), Open Gaza (AUC Press, 2021), Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah (Wendy's Subway, 2023), The Funambulist, Arab Urbanism, and PLATFORM. He is the editor of Their Borders, Our World: Building New Solidarities with Palestine, a forthcoming PalFest publication from Haymarket Press. Mahdi is also an Editor at Large at the Avery Review and a 2023 Matakyev Research Fellow at the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands.
Jay Saper is an artist, writer, translator, and organizer who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Their artist books and zines honoring the legacy of Yiddish print and activist culture, under the imprint Pashkevil Press, are held in the collection of the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Along with Morgan Bassichis and Rachel Valinsky, Jay is co-editor of Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah (Wendy’s Subway 2023).
Rachel Valinsky is a writer, translator, and editor living in New York, where she serves as Artistic Director at Wendy’s Subway, a reading room, writing space, and independent publisher; and Managing Editor at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances in New York.
Brooklyn Public Library - Central Library, Dweck Center MM/DD/YYYY 60