Nadine Sinno and William Taggart, translators of I Saw Her in My Dreams, will read selections from the novel, followed by a discussion and Q&A.

I Saw Her in My Dreams is a powerful novel about interpersonal and systemic violence, examined through the lens of a relationship between Zahiyya, an anxious middle-class Omani artist, and Faneesh, the Ethiopian domestic worker she hires. Weaving between multiple perspectives and stories within stories, the novel explores honestly—but without sensationalizing or self-Orientalizing—the anti-Blackness that has endured in the Arab world and elsewhere.

Nadine Sinno is an Associate Professor of Arabic at Virginia Tech. Her recent publications include a translation with Paula Haydar of Jabbour Douaihy’s Firefly, currently shortlisted for the Saif Ghobash Banipal translation prize.

William Taggart is an Instructor in the Arabic program at Virginia Tech.

Huda Hamed has published several short story collections and novels, including Cinderallat Muscat [The Cinderellas of Muscat].