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Congratulations, Sara! I’m sorry to miss this—it’s during my kiddo’s pick-up time. Sending you my best. And can’t wait to read the book!</div>
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Shurouq </div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>From:</b> Middleeaststudiesforum <middleeaststudiesforum-bounces+ibrahim.278=buckeyemail.osu.edu@lists.osu.edu> on behalf of McClimans, Melinda via Middleeaststudiesforum <middleeaststudiesforum@lists.osu.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, April 17, 2026 8:57 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> MES Forum Middle East Studies Center <middleeaststudiesforum@lists.osu.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [MES Forum] Monday - Sara Abou Rashed's Book Launch</span>
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<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">MES Forum Members,
</span><span style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">English PhD student Sara Abou Rashed's debut poetry collection,
<i>Theories of Return, </i>is now in print. P</span><span style="font-family: Aptos, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">lease celebrate with us on Monday</span><span style="font-family: Aptos, Aptos_EmbeddedFont, Aptos_MSFontService, Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> April
20th at 3:00pm in 141 Sullivant Hall (Barnett Collaboratory) for the book launch!</span></div>
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<span style="text-transform: none;"><a href="https://english.osu.edu/events/sara-abou-rasheds-theories-return-poetry-book-launch" title="https://english.osu.edu/events/sara-abou-rasheds-theories-return-poetry-book-launch" data-outlook-id="21f2e0a5-9290-47e8-9dbe-5c3abbff957c" style="color: rgb(0, 120, 212); text-align: left;">https://english.osu.edu/events/sara-abou-rasheds-theories-return-poetry-book-launch</a></span></div>
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<b>About the book:</b></div>
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<i>Theories of Return</i> is an urgent and unflinching poetry collection that resists both literal and literary erasure, asserting the right to exist. In these pages, Sara Abou Rashed’s voice does not ask permission but commands attention, bearing witness to
exile while refusing silence. As much as the book honors Sara's family displacement in 1948 from Palestine to Syrian refugee camps and later to the U.S., it is ultimately collective rather than confessional, pressing outward to ask universal questions about
the ethics of war, ownership, language, motherhood, and intimacy. Each poem operates as its own theory and attempt at return, binding abstraction to lived experience, and inherited history to the brutal clarity of the present moment. Formally daring and emotionally
exacting, <i>Theories of Return</i> offers readers poetry that is intellectually rigorous, deeply human, and unafraid to speak.</div>
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<a href="https://english.osu.edu/events/sara-abou-rasheds-theories-return-poetry-book-launch" title="https://english.osu.edu/events/sara-abou-rasheds-theories-return-poetry-book-launch" data-outlook-id="263ee6de-efb4-40ff-87db-14d104789b18"><b>Event Details</b></a><b>:</b></div>
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<b>Monday, April 20, 3:00-4:30pm</b></div>
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<b>311 Denney Hall </b></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">This event is cosponsored by NESA, English and
<i>The Journal</i>, and will feature readings from Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry
</span><span style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><a href="https://english.osu.edu/people/pitiniidavis.1" id="OWA2efaff69-d0c4-f967-c7d4-f2941991e437" class="OWAAutoLink" data-outlook-id="ed3df559-1532-4b09-96f0-36547d75ef54" style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><b>Allison
Pitinii Davis</b></a><b>, </b></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">MFA student
</span><span style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><a href="https://english.osu.edu/people/ponnuraju.1" id="OWA1d6c651e-b6f2-24aa-34e0-2a5b86fc4992" class="OWAAutoLink" data-outlook-id="eb7ab406-acb0-4d00-ab20-eb72c83c5fa8" style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><b>Misha
Ponnuraju</b></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, followed by a Q&A with NESA faculty
</span><span style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><a href="https://nesa.osu.edu/people/sellman.13" id="OWA0e4c495f-bbd0-98db-66b7-281c246d76dd" class="OWAAutoLink" data-outlook-id="cab66358-b1f0-405e-b05b-1a2059251827" style="color: rgb(186, 12, 47);"><b>Johanna
Sellman</b></a></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>. </b></span></div>
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Please share this email and the attached flyer to spread the word! We look forward to seeing you there!</div>
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P.S. The official launch off-campus will be on Thursday, April 30th, at 6:00pm, at the McConnell Arts Center.
<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mcconnellarts.org/calendar/sara-abou-rashed-s-theories-of-return-book-launch-with-scott-woods-and-mandy-shunnarah__;!!KGKeukY!27Z8Wv3VuRfrb0v0IbfVFFSs7C-qZg7XGGfAsvTIf3J57mErDUNjZp1kEvtukLaQCV5tL_dUdW32h1lbgZVTwEoXuQ1fbY2WH_zBHGBx7y0nsg$" data-outlook-id="4aac715c-f7b5-497a-8652-298b7d3ecd12">
https://mcconnellarts.org/calendar/sara-abou-rashed-s-theories-of-return-book-launch-with-scott-woods-and-mandy-shunnarah</a> </div>
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