In Her Feminine Sign with Dunya Mikhail

Welcome to the first episode of the Seen Jeem podcast, which highlights the voices of contemporary Arab American writers! Joining us for our first episode is Dunya Mikhail. Dunya discusses her latest collection of poetry In Her Feminine Sign, touching on the art of translation, the use of testimonials and fables in verse, the meaning of home, the plight of Iraqi women in times of political instability and violence, war trauma, and the burden of memories. She describes the experience of returning to Iraq after years of exile to conduct research for her creative nonfiction book The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq. This interview took place in the Spring of 2021.