Elmaz Abinader

Elmaz Abinader is a poet, memoirist, playwright and novelist. Her first memoir, "Children of the Roojme, a Family’s Journey from Lebanon," chronicles three generations of immigrants battling dislocation and tradition. Her most recent poetry collection, "This House, My Bones" won the Editors Selection at Willow Books 2014. Her first poetry collection, "In the Country of My Dreams…" won the 2000 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Poetry award. She was also awarded a Goldies Award for Literature, as well as two Drammies (Oregon’s Drama award) for her three-act one-woman show, "Country of Origin." Elmaz most recently performed Country of Origin at the Kennedy Center and has toured several countries with this play and two others: "Ramadan Moon" and "32 Mohammeds."

Elmaz’s work has been widely anthologized, most recently in "The New Anthology of American Poetry, Vol. 3" and "The Colors of Nature." Elmaz has been a Fulbright Senior Fellow to Egypt, has taught for the Palestine Writing Workshop and a resident at the El Gouna Writing Residency on the Red Sea, Can Serrat in Spain and was November 2013 Artist in Residence at the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim. Elmaz is one of the founders of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, (VONA/Voices), now in its 15th year providing workshops for writers of color. She is also a creative writing professor at Mills College and a fitness instructor at the Oakland Y.