ONLINE: Place, Identity and the Great Lakes Region

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Jaida Grey Eagle

Moheb Soliman

How are we shaped by the landscapes in which we live? This question has long preoccupied artists and philosophers. This UW Sea Grant "Lake Talks" webinar will focus on our relationship to the Great Lakes with poet Moheb Soliman, who has lived in both Egypt and the Midwest, in a conversation with Anne Moser, senior special librarian of the Wisconsin Water Library and education coordinator for Wisconsin Sea Grant. Soliman will also read from his poetry. All are welcome; register for the Zoom link here.

media release: Wisconsin’s Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks,” a series of informal presentations on science and humanities topics related to the Great Lakes, continues Thursday, Dec. 9, from 7-8 p.m. The evening’s event is titled “Place, identity and the Great Lakes region: A conversation with poet Moheb Soliman.”

The virtual event will be held on Zoom. It is open to all, though registration is required. (Register for this event now.) The hour will include time for audience questions.

Soliman is an interdisciplinary poet from Egypt and the Midwest who has presented his work in the U.S. and Canada with support from numerous foundations and institutions. His first book of poems, HOMES (Coffee House Press, 2021), alludes to an acronym used to remember the names of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior. Yet the title has other meanings as well, as Soliman’s writing offers an intimate perspective on an immigrant experience as he drives his Corolla past exquisite vistas and abandoned mines, through tourist towns and Midwestern suburbs, seeking to inhabit an entire region as home.

He will be featured in a conversation-style event with Senior Special Librarian Anne Moser of the Wisconsin Water Library. Moser is also the education coordinator for Wisconsin Sea Grant. Their discussion will be interspersed with Soliman reading from his work.

Reviewing HOMES for EcoLit Books, Lillie Gardner praised the book as “stunning” and noted that “Soliman reflects on heavy topics with easy-going wit and candor.” She wrote, “An engaging meditation on our world and our place in it, HOMES takes the idea of borders as neat dividing lines and cracks it open, redefining place as a space that is shared and changeable.” To learn more about Moheb Soliman, visit his website at www.mohebsoliman.info.

For Lake Talks event and registration information, visit the Sea Grant website, or follow Wisconsin Sea Grant on Facebook or Twitter. You can register for Moheb Soliman’s talk now.

For questions about the Lake Talks series, contact Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith.