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GupShup: Immigrant Stories, A Conversation
October 2, 2023 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
The San Diego Writers Festival in collaboration with Mingei Museum Community Monday series is delighted to present an honest, delicious dialogue about immigrant experiences and the food that shapes our lives. Sample foods and stories from India, Ukraine, Iraq, Sudan and San Diego in the newly renovated, beautiful cultural hub of Balboa Park. The panel will include Huda Al-Marashi, author of First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story and Jane Muschenetz, co-founder of Table M and author of All the Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents, with insightful moderation by Madhushree Ghosh, author of Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family.
The presentation will also feature a visit with farmers from City Heights’ groundbreaking New Roots Community Garden,recognized by Michelle Obama as “a model for the nation, for the world.”
Enjoy a feast for the mind and heart with nibbles, chit chat, and Q&A at the end, along with a short book signing and selling from our featured authors.
Time: Monday, October 2, 6:30 PM Location: Mingei Museum Balboa Park, Plaza de Panama, 1439 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101 Cost: $20.00 (proceeds support the 2024 San Diego Writers Festival)
Huda, Al-Marashi is a public speaker and author of books for both adults and children. The Washington Post called her bestselling memoir First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story “a charming, funny, heartbreaking memoir of faith, family, and the journey to love.” She is a co-author of the middle-grade novel Grounded and the author of Not Only an Only in the anthology Once Upon an Eid.
Huda’s other writing has appeared in various news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, and al Jazeera. She has been awarded a Cuyahoga County Creative Workforce Fellowship, an Aspen Summer Words Emerging Writer Fellowship, and a Highlights Foundation Muslim Storytellers Fellowship. First Comes Marriage was longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize and a finalist for the Southern California Independent Booksellers’ Award. View her TEDx talk on Eliminating Cultural Bias here.
Jane Muschenetz is a Ukrainian-born, Russian-speaking, Jewish refugee who fled the Soviet regime as a child. Recognized for excellence in Poetry Performance by the County of San Diego, Jane is a 2023 City of Encinitas Exhibiting Artist and winner of the 2022 Good Life Review Poetry Prize. Her debut poetry collection, All the Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents (KelsayBooks, 2023), is a Readers’ Favorite 5 Star Book and a finalist for the Jacar Press Chapbook Prize. Jane is also the “butter half” of the husband-and-wife team behind the long-running food and photography blog, Table M.
Passionate about building inclusive, resilient communities, Jane serves on the boards of several nonprofits, including Temple Emanu-El, MIT Sloan Alum Club of San Diego, and International Memoir Writers Association. She is the Director of Partnerships at San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild and co-founder of the San Diego chapter of Women Who Submit Lit. Her previous work includes advising Fortune 500 companies as a strategy consultant at Bain & Co. View her Poetry Salon feature on using humor in poetry to approach difficult topics here.
photo by: Natalie Joy Photography
The panel will be moderated by Madhushree Ghosh, author of Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory and Family.
Hailed by Ms Magazine as a ‘Most Anticipated Read for the Rest of Us in 2022’, Madhushree Ghosh’s debut food narrative memoir, KHABAAR: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family (2022) marries lives of chefs, home cooks, and food stall owners, with the author’s own immigrant journey as the daughter of refugees, questioning belonging and the concept of home. View her TEDx talk, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Food” here.
Her work has been a Notable Mention in Best American Essays in Food Writing, Pushcart nominated and published in The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Longreads, LA Review of Books, and others. Madhushree works in oncology diagnostics and can be reached at @writemadhushree and her website (www.writemadhushree.com)
New Roots Garden Founded in 2007, New Roots Farm is a vibrant 2.3 acre sanctuary of healthy food, community, and active living right in the heart of City Heights’ concrete jungle. Recognized by Michelle Obama as “a model for the nation, for the world,” New Roots is one of the first and most celebrated refugee community gardens in the nation. Integrated into the local economy and infrastructure through on-the-ground, collaborative advocacy and community support, New Roots provides opportunity, healing, purpose and a sense of home. Learn more here.