by Christine McSwain & Emma Stough

Bret Lott, Christine McSwain, & Emma Stough have gone to meet our friends at the University of Bahrain. Follow their progress here!

May 7
Bahrain

What a long and rewarding day! We began by returning to the University of Bahrain to conduct the first of two workshop sessions with students. There was a great turnout, mostly with students not already in the program coming to experience this short session with us and Professor Lott. We did some in-class writing exercises and had them share their quickly-written cinquains aloud and got some interesting and thoughtful results from them.  It was great to see just how many students at the university are interested enough in writing to take time out of their busy exam schedules to sit and work with us for a couple of hours. We will meet again for a second workshop on Wednesday.

From our workshop we went to the United States Embassy, where we met with US Ambassador Justin Siberell. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos during our meeting but the experience was quite remarkable. We sat with Ambassador Siberell in his office and told him about our wonderful Bahraini students, specifically their dedication to writing and publishing their works in Under the Bahraini Sky.  Ambassador Siberell was a gracious host and our conversation was warm and enlightening. It was an honor to be invited into the embassy and to talk about the impact this program has had on the students here in Bahrain and how much it means to us at the College of Charleston.

Next we went to the Bahrain National Museum. The architectural design of the building was stunning, and particularly intriguing was the gigantic aerial map of Bahrain printed on the floor of the first level. The photograph portrayed every part of the country in relatively intimate detail, so much so that our Embassy guide Ali showed us his childhood home. The museum had fascinating exhibits on the long history and traditions of Bahrain, and there was a particularly neat room with ancient documents and manuscripts, including some gorgeous pearl-inlaid Qurans.

Our final event of the day was a meeting with the Bahrain Writers’ Circle at Mashq Art Gallery. This event was particularly unique because some of our students from the university also attended! Five of our students were able to attend and were gracious enough to read again from the journal. Professor Lott and the two of us also got a chance to share some work. Afterwards there was a question and answer session with members of the Writers’ Circle. Our students answered some questions as well and we were proud to see them engaging so confidently with this established group of writers. It was a wonderful experience to get to speak with members of this group, and to give our students the chance to discover another community of writers right here in Bahrain.

Now we will eat spaghetti in bed—room service is a gift after such a long day. Good night from the Middle East.

Until then–
Christine & Emma