2012 Spring Edition of IWA Magazine
2012 Project in Progress
IWA is sponsoring its 8th Annual IWA Poetry Contest. Mahasin D Shamsiddeen, Contest Manager and Assistant Director of the IWA announced that the topic for the contest is ‘Taqwa’ Submissions will be accepted from April 1st through April 30th. Guidelines for submissions are published on the IWA web site. There are three categories for contest writers: Adult, Youth 9 years through 17 years, and a category for members of the IWA. Mahasin advised the IWA board of Directors that she has secured 3 very reputable contest judges: Dr. Stewart Birkoff, Br. Yahya Emerick and poet Sister Samantha Sanchez.
Contest Guidelines at www.islamicwritersalliance.net
Recently Completed Projects
New Cookbook Published in January 2012: Serving Up Faith: Recipes-Cooking Tips-Inspirational Stories
A beautifully crafted book that has something in it for just about everyone. 84 Original International recipes, 20 food specific aya and hadith,11 informative articles about healthy cooking and eating, articles about some of the most commonly used herbs and spices, 10 wonderful stories about converting to Islam or finding ones’ faith and a Glossary . The book’s content was contributed by the talented members of the IWA organization and was published by Muslim Writers Publishing.
For those budget conscious shoppers or others not able for some reason to access the print copy, the IWA will also be publishing a PDF version for quick and easy download. Check back in February for the location site to purchase the printable pdf version. This version offers the option of printing any recipe, taking it to the kitchen, and creating a great meal for family and/or friends!
All profits from sales go towards funding IWA projects which support our purpose of promoting literacy.
IWA’s 2011 Annual Islamic School Library Book Awards were given to the schools listed below:
Islamic Academy of Delaware
Newark, DE 19713
Universal Academy of Florida
Tampa, FL
Lexington Universal Academy
Lexington, KY
Al-Amal School
Fridley, MN
An-Noor Quran Academy
Raleigh, NC
Member News
Mahasin D Shamsiddeen: A preview of my theatrical production “This Truth is Clear & Evident” will be this Friday, January 13, 2012 at 7:00pm at the old Empire Theater located at 114 W. Broad Street in Richmond. The event is free to the public and will showcase scenes from all of the theaters that will present in the 2012 Acts of Faith Festival this year. The performers for our scene will be Omar Collins and Charlie Raintree and we are in the first Act.
Maryam Funmilayo: My article titled, “A Better Education” was published in the HomeWorks quarterly magazine (Oct/Nov/Dec 2011) Issue 4, Volume 1, Page 8. HomeWorks quarterly magazine is a Pakistani-based Home Education magazine. This magazine serves as a support and resource group for Muslim home educators.
I became the Editor-in-Chief of the An-Noor School Newsletter in December 2011. An-Noor School/Qur’an Academy was one of the Islamic schools that was chosen as a recipient of the IWA Islamic Book Award, 2011.
Nazli Currin: “author of Grandma Lives With Us, has started working on her second book, Welcome To Ramadhan Sarah! She is hoping to publish it in 2012 Insha’Allah. Her contact information is: shonzbooks@gmail.com and her website is: www.nazlicurrim.com. In November she filled book orders for Dalian, China, and Queensland, Australia.”
Irving Karchmar: “has signed two new translation agreements this quarter, for a new Russian language edition and a new Indonesian Bahasa edition. InshaAllah, the Indonesia edition will be published in February and the Russian edition will be published in the spring.”
The Malayalam language translation of Master of the Jinn, Jinninte Yajamanan, has been published in the Kerala State of India The new Indonesian translation of Master of the Jinn, Sang Raja Jin, has also been published.
Br. Irving reported that his fourth grandchild and second grandson, Dylan Shay, was born on Feb 17, 2012. Alhamdulillah!
Najiyah Diana Helwani: Najiyah is an Islamic fiction author who gave a presentation at the American Islamic College on March 14th, 2012. Najiyah Diana Helwani is an Islamic fiction author and former teacher. She currently serves as the outreach coordinator for Culturally Speaking: The center for cultural exchange, organizing events, lecturing on Islam and facilitating cultural diversity workshops. A Kansas Native, She is passionate about sharing Islam through collaboration, interaction and rich, relevant books and stories. http://www.aicusa.edu/?p=4476.
Linda D. Delgado: Linda was interviewed by Kimberley Ben for Muslimahs Working at Home, an inspirational website that details sisters pursuing their dreams of self-employment. The link to view it is here: http://www.muslimahsworkingathome.com/?p=1379. It has also been noted on the Muslimahs Working at Home Facebook page: (facebook.com/muslimahsworkingathome.com).
As owner and publisher of Muslim Writers Publishing, Linda published Serving Up Faith for the IWA organization in January 2012. In February 2012 Linda published Reunion, the 5th book in her award winning Islamic Rose Books series. Both books are available from the publisher, Islamicbookstore.com, and many fine retail stores.
<end>
2011 Fall Edition of IWA Magazine
All praise and thanks to Allah this past quarter has been a very productive one for the IWA organization:
The Zakat Foundation of America made the decision to partner with the IWA organization in order to provide promotional support and financial assistance with funding on-going IWA projects that support literacy. We at IWA are very excited to have such a well-respected charitable organization as a partner in furthering our purpose and goals.
- IWA members assisted the owner of Muslim Writers Publishing in giving over four dozen new Islamic fiction books to a new children’s school library in IDA: Islamic Academy of Delaware.
- Balqees Mohammed, IWA web admin and organization Secretary completed the design for the organization’s Cookbook: Serving Up Faith
: Recipes, Cooking Tips, and Inspirational Stories.
Through our Catch the Spirit-Be a Muslim Champion campaign the organization raised the amount of money required to pay for our cookbook design fees and printer files and distribution fees.
Go to www.islamicwritersalliance.net to learn more about this initiative. IWA gives books to islamic school libraries for our Muslim kids!
The IWA Board of Directors made the decision to sponsor a non-fiction writing contest for members and the public. We are pleased to announce that the Zakat Foundation of America is co-sponsoring this contest. The contest theme is a Muslim’s Responsibility to Neighbors and Community. Submissions will run from October 15 through November 8, 2011. There will be three categories: Adult-Public, IWA Member, and Young Adult (ages 13 years through 17 years).
- The IWA Board of Directors decided to sponsor its annual Islamic Fiction Stories contest to run concurrently with the Non-Fiction Article contest. There will be three categories: Adult-Public, IWA Member, and Young Adult (ages 13 years through 17 years).
Future announcements regarding both contests will be located at the IWA web site at: www.islamicwritersalliance.org .
<end>
2011 Summer Ramadan Edition of IWA Magazine
The IWA Board members and organization members have been busy during the past quarter working on several high priority projects all aimed at promoting the organization’s purpose of promoting literacy. The following is an update on projects’ progress:
Anthology Cookbook Project
The book title for the new anthology cookbook is Serving Up Faith: Recipes, Cooking Tips and Inspirational Stories.
Phase 1 , Manager- Linda Delgado, Director (completed)
–Obtaining anthology content from IWA members and sending guidelines and publishing agreements to contributors – Sara Ali
–Organizing member content into an anthology manuscript – Linda Delgado
–First round of editing of the draft manuscript by IWA members:
Ivanka Khan, Maryam Fummilayo, Jamal Orem, Shiyana Yahya, Amina Malik, and Linda Delgado
Phase 2, Manager – Balqees Mohammed, IWA Secretary (in progress)
–The draft manuscript will be sent to the Team 2 Members: Balqees Mohammed and Mahasin Shamsid-Deen for book editing.
–After editing is complete and the manuscript polished, a query requesting book publishing will be prepared by Team 2 and the query will be sent to Muslim publishers.
IWA Tax Exempt and Non-Profit Recognition by the IRS
In April 2011 the IWA Board of Directors took the necessary steps to obtain IRS recognition of the IWA organization as a non-profit and also obtained IRS tax-exempt status for the organization.
Catch the Spirit…Be a Muslim Champion Initiative
The IWA board of Directors launched a new initiative to promote the IWA organization to the Public. The initiative is title Catch the Spirit…Be a Muslim Champion. The initiative informs the Public of our organization’s purpose and the goals we have established to promote and support literacy world-wide. The text of this initiative is published at the IWA website: http://www.islamicwritersalliance.net/muslim_champion_1.html
IWA’s Web administrator created a Muslim champion lofo and we are hoping that visitors will ask for it to include on their own blogs, websites and in their publications giving this initiative their support. Balqees also established a donate button for visitors to give their support financially to help the IWA continue and even expand its programs in support of literacy.
2011 Spring Edition of IWA Magazine
IWA Organization News
The IWA will be sponsoring its 7th Annual Poetry Contest open to the Public. Submissions are being accepted from April 1st through 30th. There will be three first place winners with cash prizes. A panel of judges in the following categories will select winners: IWA Member, Adult and Youth (under 18 years of age).
The two IWA anthologies, Many Poetic Voices, One Faith and Many Voices, One Faith II – Islamic Fiction Stories will be on display and sold at the ICNA Conference in May. IWA member, Umm Juwayrriyah, generously offered space at her vendor table to other IWA members. Promotional materials about the IWA organization will also made available to visitors at this conference.
The IWA organization will participate in the 2nd Annual Muslim Women’s Conference April 16, 2011 in Dayton, Ohio. Sisters Soumyana, Fawzia Gilani-Williams and Pamela Taylor will be promoting and selling IWA member books and the two IWA anthologies at this event.
At the ISNA Educational Conference our Marketing Officer, Pamela Taylor, secured time to have a panel of IWA members discuss Islamic fiction books and authors and the work of the IWA organization with promoting literacy worldwide.
New Anthology Book Project: After considerable discussion the IWA organization decided to create a new anthology manuscript the organization hopes will be published by a Muslim publisher. The book title selected is, Serving Up Faith: Recipes, Cooking Tips and Inspirational Stories. The book will include original recipes, healthy cooking and eating tips, stories about cooking and as a unique highlight will include true stories by Muslim reverts about the changes becoming a Muslim made to their own cooking and diets. Members who experienced a renewal of their faith will be contributing their stories as well. The book project is at the content gathering stage and a book proposal and letter requesting publishing consideration are being drafted.
2010 Winter Edition of IWA Magazine
IWA sponsored its 6th Annual Poetry Contest for the year of 2010. This year’s contest theme was ‘ibadah’, or worship. We are pleased to report the winners:
Adult Non-IWA Member Category
Title of Poem – Cherry Blossom
Author – Farah Razeena Abduz-Zahir
Vancouver, BC, Canada
IWA Member Category
Title of Poem – Daddy
Author – Enith Morillo
Providence , RI, USA
Youth Category
Title of Poem – A Simple Piece of Cloth
Author – Haseena Abdur-Rahman
Prince George, VA, USA
The winning poems can be read at the IWa web site: www.islamicwritersalliance.net.
Islamic Writers Alliance Annual Islamic School Library Book Awards
The IWA is pleased to report on the Islamic Schools receiving our Annual Islamic School Library Book Awards for 2010. Each year the IWA membership nominates individual Islamic schools and the IWA Board of Directors selects the schools from the list created from membership nominations.
Congratulations from the IWA Organization to award recipients of the 2010 IWA Islamic School Library Book Awards:
Salah Tawfik Elementary and Middle School (STEMS), Sunrise, Florida, USA
M A Institute, United Kingdom
August 2010 Edition of IWA Magazine
Book Festival:
1st Annual Michigan International Books Festival to be held at Laurel Park Place Mall (37500 6 Mile Rd. Livonia, MI 48152). The festival will be Thursday October 28, 2010 through Sunday October 31, 2010. For details call Sierra for an application and to confirm your participation. (313) 446-2262. Email info@laylahpr.com for additional information.
Saba Negash is sponsoring a summer reading contest for kids. go to:
http://familyreads.weebly.com/summer-read-a-thon-2010.html
Ponn Sabra is sponsoring the second annual reading contest for Muslims of all ages. go to:
http://americanmuslimmom.com/2010-summer-islamic-reading-challenge-kickoff
Cam Ali will be producing television shows for young Muslim children. Learn more about this project. go to: www.camali.tv
