Farrah Sarafa
Farrah Sarafa is an Arab-American poet, scholar, and professor based in Manhattan. She is best known for her work as a poet and cultural activist. She is of Palestinian and Chaldean descent. Biography. Born to a Palestinian mother and a Chaldean father, post colonialism, occupation and human rights inform her research and activism. Her notable academic research on North African-French diaspora- "Re-writing Algerian Nationalism Through the Discourse of the Woman" was published by the University of California Santa Cruz Press in 2006. She spoke on “Growing up Iraqi in the United States” at Boston College  and won the Marjorie Rappaport Hopwood award for her poem “Olive.” Her poems “Palestine Fig”, first published in Arabesques, “Let the Land Choose”, “Warfire”, “The Dead Sea”, and “Blood, Sand, and Tears of a Young Boy” have been featured in various magazines, anthologies and textbooks. Inspired by Edward Said's work on "Orientalism", postcolonial studies and Comparative Literature, Sarafa worked under his tutelage at Columbia University to obtain a master's degree. She is now Professor of Literature and Modern Languages at Pace University. Awards and recognition. Sarafa was the recipient of a SLS Summer Writing Scholarship and Grant, and  of the Marjorie Rappaport Award. She earned 2nd place in the Chistell Writing Contest for “To my Brother" and received the Hopwood Award for her poem "Olive". Her poems have appeared in publications such as "Ascent Aspirations Magazine", "Avatar Review", "Frigg Magazine", "Litchfield Review", "Cerebration", "Foliate Oak", "Diagram", "Feile-Festa", "mediterranean.nu", "Tablet Review", and "Voices in Wartime". Sarafa's work as a writer and columnist for "Blackbook", "Arte Fuse", "GreenandSave", "the Village Voice", "NYArt Beat", "Scallywag & Vagabond" resulted in her founding "Fractyll Culture Magazine". Based on the notion that ‘culture is a fractal’, whose "various spokes melodically amount to literature , travel, art, fashion, health, race and music", it underscores industry pioneers, red carpet events and grassroots movements.