Mizna (journal)

Mizna
Cover of the summer 2021 issue of Mizna
Cover of Mizna, vol. 22, no. 1
Executive editorMoheb Soliman
Former editorsGeorge Abraham
CategoriesLiterary magazine
FrequencyBiannual
FounderKathryn Haddad
Saleh Abudayyeh
First issue1999
CompanyMizna
CountryUnited States
Based inSt. Paul, Minnesota
LanguageEnglish
Websitemizna.org/journal/
ISSN1535-2331

Mizna (full title: Mizna: SWANA Literature + Art) is an American literary magazine published biannually in print and digital formats by the nonprofit arts organization Mizna in St. Paul, Minnesota.[1][2] Founded in 1999, it publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, comics, visual poetry, and visual art centered on Arab and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) writers and artists.[3][4] The journal was originally published with the subtitle Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab America; and in 2021, with volume 22, issue 1, it adopted the subtitle SWANA Literature + Art.[5][6]

NPR described it as the first Arab American literary journal in the United States.[4] In 2021, Mizna won the CLMP Firecracker Award for general excellence (magazines), and in 2023 it received the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize.[7][8]

History

The journal grew out of the arts section of a newsletter produced by volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.[3][4] After a national call for submissions drew a strong response, founders Kathryn Haddad and Saleh Abudayyeh Haddad developed the publication as a standalone journal, whose first issue appeared in 1999.[3][4] A 2001 Minnesota Public Radio report described it as the country's only literary journal featuring writing by Arab Americans.[9] The journal launched shortly before the September 11 attacks, after which its editors said the need for the publication became more urgent.[4]

In 2021, with the publication of volume 22, the journal adopted the subtitle SWANA Literature + Art, replacing the original Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab America. Executive director Lana Barkawi described the term SWANA as a "decolonized" alternative to the Eurocentric framing of "Middle East".[6]

Editorial profile

Mizna publishes poetry, fiction, essays, comics, visual poetry, and visual art in a biannual print and digital format.[2][10] The journal's executive editor is Moheb Soliman, who in late 2024 succeeded George Abraham.[11]

Contributors have included Naomi Shihab Nye, Suheir Hammad, Mahmoud Darwish, Laila Lalami, Eileen Myles, Hala Alyan, Natalie Diaz, Joe Sacco, Mohja Kahf, Kazim Ali, and Mohammed el-Kurd.[4][12][13]

In addition to its print journal, Mizna also publishes Mizna Online. In a 2024 interview with Mn Artists, executive director Lana Barkawi said Mizna launched the platform to publish on a faster timeline than the print journal allows, including work by Gazan, Sudanese, and Armenian writers.[14]

Selected issues

Many issues of Mizna have been organized around themes or guest editorial concepts.[1] The journal's archive includes issues devoted to topics such as revolution, intersectionality, Palestine, queer and trans writing, comics, formal experimentation, Etel Adnan, Black SWANA writing, myth and memory, cinema, and futurity.[15]

Selected issues of Mizna
Volume Issue Date Theme / title Notes
6 1 Summer 2004 — Issue published with the note "In Memory of Edward W. Said (1935–2003)".[16]
8 2 Winter 2006 The Lebanon Issue Themed issue about Lebanon.[17]
11 1 2009 Mahmoud Darwish Memorial Memorial issue about Mahmoud Darwish.[18]
13 1 Summer 2012 Literature in Revolution Guest edited by Mohammed A. Bamyeh.[19]
17 2 Winter 2016 The Environment Issue Guest edited by Gary Paul Nabhan. The Arab American News covered the issue's intersection of environmentalism with Arab American experience.[20]
18 1 Summer 2017 Surviving Guest edited by Moustafa Bayoumi. The Arab American News reported that Mizna's summer 2017 issue would explore the theme of “Surviving”, and a University of Notre Dame speaker biography describes Bayoumi as guest editor of a special edition of Mizna titled Surviving.[20][21]
19 2 Winter 2018 The Palestine Issue Guest edited by Ismail Khalidi.[12]
20 1 Summer 2019 Twenty Years 20th-anniversary issue, covered by NPR.[4]
21 1 Summer 2020 Queer + Trans Voices Guest edited by Zeyn Joukhadar. Catapult author notes and The Queer Arabs podcast both identify Joukhadar as guest editor of Mizna's 2020 Queer + Trans Voices issue.[22][23]
21 2 Winter 2020 The Comix Issue Guest edited by Leila Abdelrazaq.[24]
22 1 Summer 2021 — Issue marking the journal's adoption of the subtitle SWANA Literature + Art.[6]
22 2 Winter 2021 The Experimental Issue Guest edited by Tarik Dobbs.[25]
23 1 Summer 2022 Tribute to Etel Adnan Tribute issue for Etel Adnan. Flash Art reported that Mizna's summer 2022 issue included a tribute to Adnan and would feature her paintings and tapestries.[26]
23 2 Winter 2022 The Black SWANA Issue Guest edited by Safia Elhillo. KARE 11 covered the issue's exploration of Black SWANA identity, and Minnesota's Legacy Fund described it as a special “Black Takeover” issue produced by an all-Black team.[6][27]
24 2 2023 The Cinema Issue Guest edited by Saeed Taji Farouky.[28]
25 2 2024 Futurities Guest edited by Barrak Alzaid and Aram Kavoossi. MIT ACT promoted the Mizna Futurities issue launch symposium in 2025, describing the issue as an invitation to speculate on “relationalities of people, land, futurity, and catastrophe in the twenty-first century”.[29][30]

Awards and recognition

In 2021, Mizna won the CLMP Firecracker Award for magazines/general excellence, given annually by the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses for independently published literature. The judges described it as a publication that combined international reach with regional rootedness and called it "a magazine that is deeply alive".[7][31]

In September 2023, Mizna was one of seven recipients of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, which was reported by Publishers Weekly, NPR, and Literary Hub.[8][32][33] The prize included $20,000 in grants in 2023, with matching grants of up to the same amount in 2024 and 2025. Other recipients in the same cycle included The Paris Review, n+1, Guernica, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Orion, and the Oxford American.[8] The Whiting Foundation judges described the journal as "tightly edited, gorgeously curated, and visually striking".[33] The St. Paul Pioneer Press covered the award, noting the journal would receive $60,000 over three years.[34]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Thamer, Sarah (April 26, 2024). "'I wanted to see stories about our experience': For 25 years Mizna has helped artists make cultural connections". MPR News. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Mizna". Whiting Foundation. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 "For the Community, by the Community: Mizna and Masrah". Arts Midwest. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Allam, Hannah (November 3, 2019). "Literary Journal 'Mizna' Celebrates 20 Years Of Arab American Writing". NPR. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Mizna : opinion, poetry, short stories, essays, and art by Arab Americans". University of Minnesota Libraries. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Arab arts organization Mizna celebrates Black SWANA experience in latest literary journal". KARE 11. April 26, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  7. 1 2 Anderson, Porter (June 30, 2021). "Independent Publishing: CLMP Honors 2021 'Firecracker Award' Winners". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 Stewart, Sophia (September 12, 2023). "2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize Winners Announced". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  9. ↑ Stucky, Mary (December 7, 2001). "Mizna". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Submit to Mizna". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Moheb Soliman Rejoins Mizna Staff as Executive Editor and Literary Programs Director". Mizna. December 20, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  12. 1 2 "Mizna: The Palestine Issue". Mizna. February 27, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Mizna 5.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  14. ↑ Ray, Aegor (2024). "Practicing Solidarity, Living Values: A Conversation with Mizna". Mn Artists. Walker Art Center. Retrieved April 5, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Journal". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Mizna: Prose, Poetry, and Art Exploring Arab America". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Mizna 8.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  18. ↑ "Mizna 11.1". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Mizna 13.1". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  20. 1 2 "Literary journal 'Mizna' proves Arab art is timely and alive". Arab American News. April 22, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Meet the Speaker: Moustafa Bayoumi". ThinkND. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Starting Testosterone During Ramadan Led Me to the Sacred in My Trans Self". Catapult. December 2, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Episode 165: Mizna—Queer + Trans Voices". The Queer Arabs. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Mizna 21.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  25. ↑ "Mizna 22.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Mizna pays tribute to Etel Adnan with film and literary festival "Luminance"". Flash Art. June 22, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  27. ↑ "Black Takeover of Mizna Literary Journal". Minnesota's Legacy. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Mizna 24.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  29. ↑ "The World as Ruins: Mizna Futurities Issue Launch Symposium". MIT ACT. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Mizna 25.2". Mizna. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  31. ↑ "2021 Firecracker Awards Citations". Community of Literary Magazines and Presses. June 23, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  32. ↑ "The Paris Review, n+1 among 2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize winners". NPR. September 12, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  33. 1 2 "Here are the winners of the 2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes". Literary Hub. September 12, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Mizna, a St. Paul-based journal, wins $60,000 prize". St. Paul Pioneer Press. September 12, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
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