Join Maha Hashwi, author, and Colette Ghunim, filmmaker, for a poetry reading and conversation surrounding Maha's debut book, The Pomegranate is a Grenade (Central Avenue, 2026) The Pomegranate is a Grenade is a debut poetry collection that examines what it means to grow up Arab and Muslim in the United States, where home is both inherited and continually reshaped. Maha Hashwi draws from the textures of an immigrant household-food shared across generations, religious traditions carried forward, the weight of displacement, and the small, steady acts of love that hold a family together. 

Maha Hashwi is a storyteller and spoken word poet. She is unapologetic in her identities as a Muslim and Arab woman. Her debut poetry book, The Pomegranate is a Grenade, will be published September 1st, 2026. She hosts a writing workshop in NYC called Anyone Can Write encouraging all to put pen to paper. Maha has attended Aspen Institute's Summer Words Writers Conference in Poetry and Tin House's Winter Workshop. She grew up in Dearborn, Michigan and now lives in New York City. 

As a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit co-founder, Colette Ghunim’s soul purpose is to use the power of film and storytelling for those oppressed around the world to be seen, to be heard, and to heal. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls (2016), received over 2 million views and won Best Short Documentary at the Arab Film Festival. Traces of Home, her first feature-length film, documents her inner quest to find home through unearthing her parent’s forced migrations from Mexico and Palestine. The film, in distribution with Watermelon Pictures and supported by the Sundance Institute, is currently on the festival circuit and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary at DOC NYC. Colette is a 2023 Obama Leader and has been highlighted on international outlets such as Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Univision, and TEDx.