DeKalb Public Library is one of 840 libraries and state humanities councils across the country selected to receive The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association. The program aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world.
The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf covers the themes of American stories, connected histories, literary reflections, pathways of faith, points of view and arts, architecture and film.
Among the titles are: “A Quiet Revolution” by Leila Ahmed; “Prince Among Slaves” by Terry Alford and the 2007 film based on the book; “The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States,” edited by Edward E. Curtis IV; “Acts of Faith” by Eboo Patel; “The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam” by G. Willow Wilson; “The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance” by Jim Al-Khalili; “In an Antique Land” by Amitav Ghosh; “When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the ‘Riches of the East’” by Stewart Gordon; “Leo Africanus” by Amin Maalouf, translated by Peter Sluglett; “The Ornament of the World” by Maria Rosa Menocal; “Minaret” by Leila Aboulela; “The Arabian Nights” (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy; “The Conference of the Birds” by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi; “Dreams of Trespass” by Fatima Mernissi; “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely; “Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction” by Jonathan A. C. Brown; “The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life” by Ingrid Mattson; “The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” by F. E. Peters; “The Art of Hajj” by Venetia Porter; “Rumi: Poet and Mystic,” edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson; “In the Country of Men” by Hisham Matar; “Dreams of Trespass” by Fatima Mernissi; “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” by Marjane Satrapi; “House of Stone” by Anthony Shadid; “Broken Verses” by Kamila Shamsie; “Islamic Arts” by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair; “Islamic Art Spots” (short films designed, written, and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, and produced by Twin Cities Public Television); “Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World” (2011); and “Koran by Heart” (2011).
The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts, as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies and Islamic studies.
For information about these new materials, visit www.dkpl.org or contact Steve Roman at 815-756-9568, ext. 280, or stever@dkpl.org.
