<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
</head>
<body>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" style="background:#EFF6FC; width:100%; border-radius:10px; border-collapse:separate; border:1px; border-radius:6px; margin-bottom:12px">
<tbody style="font-family:-apple-system,Segoe UI,HelveticaNeue-Bold,Helvetica Neue Bold,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:20px">
<tr>
<td style="padding:5px 15px">
<table style="width:100%">
<tbody style="font-family:-apple-system,Segoe UI,HelveticaNeue-Bold,Helvetica Neue Bold,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">
<tr>
<td>
<table style="border-spacing:0">
<tbody style="font-family:-apple-system,Segoe UI,HelveticaNeue-Bold,Helvetica Neue Bold,Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">
<tr>
<td><img alt="celebrate" src="https://outlook-1.cdn.office.net/assets/reaction/celebrate.png" style="height:25px; width:25px">
</td>
<td><span style="font-weight:bold; padding-left:3px">Obeid, Noor</span> <span>reacted to your message:</span>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<hr tabindex="-1" style="display:inline-block; width:98%">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> Middleeaststudiesforum <middleeaststudiesforum-bounces+obeid.13=buckeyemail.osu.edu@lists.osu.edu> on behalf of McClimans, Melinda via Middleeaststudiesforum
<middleeaststudiesforum@lists.osu.edu><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, 17 April 2026 12:56:14<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</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="direction: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>
<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:rgb(0,120,212)">
<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" 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>
<div style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:16px; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div id="mail-editor-reference-message-container">
<div id="mail-editor-reference-message-container">
<div class="elementToProof" style="text-align:left; text-indent:0px; line-height:1.5; margin:0px 0px 16px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b>About the book:</b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="text-align:left; text-indent:0px; line-height:1.5; margin:0px 0px 16px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<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>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b><br>
</b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b><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">Event Details</a>:</b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b><br>
</b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b>Monday, April 20, 3:00-4:30pm</b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<b>311 Denney Hall </b></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="text-align:left; text-indent:0px; line-height:1.5; margin:0px 0px 16px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">
<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)"><b><a href="https://english.osu.edu/people/pitiniidavis.1" id="OWA2efaff69-d0c4-f967-c7d4-f2941991e437" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color:rgb(186,12,47)">Allison Pitinii Davis</a>,
</b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">MFA student </span><span style="color:rgb(186,12,47)"><b><a href="https://english.osu.edu/people/ponnuraju.1" id="OWA1d6c651e-b6f2-24aa-34e0-2a5b86fc4992" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color:rgb(186,12,47)">Misha Ponnuraju</a></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">,
followed by a Q&A with NESA faculty </span><span style="color:rgb(186,12,47)"><b><a href="https://nesa.osu.edu/people/sellman.13" id="OWA0e4c495f-bbd0-98db-66b7-281c246d76dd" class="OWAAutoLink" style="color:rgb(186,12,47)">Johanna Sellman</a></b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b>. </b></span></div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; text-align:left; text-indent:0px; line-height:1.5; margin:0px 0px 16px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Please share this email and the attached flyer to spread the word! We look forward to seeing you there!</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; text-align:left; text-indent:0px; line-height:1.5; margin:0px 0px 16px; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
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!2ocIktXgT2yBXtFjqmev68Cnm9W76KaTWltQ-Me2RY4LxXPWWJub0NFU-_yejlCIjqWxj8GdBh3HPsbECqCzZ6M5Vp3YC2B-lGk-k23dr6o$">
https://mcconnellarts.org/calendar/sara-abou-rashed-s-theories-of-return-book-launch-with-scott-woods-and-mandy-shunnarah</a> </div>
<div id="Signature" class="elementToProof" dir="ltr">
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
<div class="elementToProof" style="direction:ltr; font-family:Aptos,Aptos_EmbeddedFont,Aptos_MSFontService,Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt; color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>