Step 1: Donate to Sameer Project here (sugg. donation $40).

Step 2: Register for “Written in Blood and Ink” here.

In this interactive workshop, participants will close-read letters and poetry from political prisoners across the globe—from Palestine to Congo to the U.S.—to explore the profound moral and political clarity of their writing and scholarship.

We’ll discuss why our political prisoners deserve our love and solidarity, and why they are the north star of our struggle.

A letter has both a sender and a receiver: what is our political duty as the inheritors of these political missives and directives? We will end by leaving time at the end for participants to (voluntarily) write a letter to a political prisoner of their choice.

Sarah Hassouneh is a mother, doula, writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural worker who theorizes around birth, death, gentrification and colonialism, and synthesis-building. Descended from Palestinian and Egyptian lineages but raised in NE Portland, her work is rooted in transnational solidarity. She is the co-founder of Hurriyyah Collective, an anti-imperialist Muslim organization based in Portland.

Jamila Osman is a Somali writer, multimedia artist, and educator. She has taught creative writing from Portland to Palestine, from summer camps to juvenile detention facilities. She is the winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and is the author of the chapbook A Girl is a Sovereign State (Akashic 2020).