'Women of Kuwait', a Collaboration by Current Poetry Student Nada Faris, Released to Acclaim

By
Zoe Contros Kearl
July 03, 2019

Current poetry student Nada Faris has a book out now through Daylight Books, titled Women of Kuwait. The collection features writing by Faris and photography by Maha Alasaker and has received favorable press from venues including Vogue ItalyVogue ArabiaI-D Magazine, and Rolling Stone Magazine.

Photographer Maha Alasaker began making environmental portraits of Kuwaiti women in their homes in Kuwait in the most intimate space, their bedroom, which offer an unprecedented glimpse into these women’s private, more authentic lives. Women in Kuwait brings together 25 portraits from the series accompanied by excerpts from interviews with the subjects conducted by Alasaker’s creative partner, Nada Faris. The women featured in the book highlight the diversity of Kuwaiti women’s professional ambitions and include a chef, a journalist, an orthodontist, a senior executive, a financial researcher, an economist, a stylist and a veterinarian. Learn more aboiut the project at the website, www.womenofkuwait.com.

Faris is a Kuwaiti writer and performance poet. ​Her book Fountain of Youth was the 2016 Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award Semi-Finalist. Mischief Diary, a collection of short stories for young adults, is available from Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press, Qatar. Faris is an Honorary Fellow in Writing at Iowa University’s International Writing Program, the recipient of an Arab Women Award Harper Bazaar Arabia 2018, a World Peace Initiative fellowship, and has served as a member of the board of trustees for Kuwait’s Cultural Circle Prize for the Arabic Short Story. Her fiction, nonfiction and poetry have been published in The Norton Anthology of Hint FictionNimrod International JournalEconomic and Political WeeklyThe Operating SystemSukoon, The Indianola Review, and more. Faris is currently based in New York.

Alasaker is a Kuwaiti visual artist based in New York City. Her work is focused on fine art, fashion and editorial photography. Her personal work engages with identity and cultural issues. Alasaker's work has been published in magazines such as Harper Bazaar ArabiaVogue ArabiaMarie ClaireLady GunnMaterial Girl, and elsewhere. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in New York City, London, United Arab of Emirate, and Kuwait.