Today, the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute is set to host an event titled: Fortune-teller: Reflections on the Future of Arts, Education and Economy in the Middle East. Political economists Kiren Aziz Chaudhry and Saskia Sassen and curator/critic/blogger Mishaal Al Gergawi will apparently prognosticate along with you, the audience.
I, myself, am no good at fortune-telling. My predictions are always unappealingly and unreasonably dire (Cairo will be lost in a haze of pollution! Alexandria will sink into the sea!).
More (fun) NYC events this month:
Thursday, April 29
“I Come from There”: Withdrawal / The House 
When: Thursday, April 29
Where: Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York City
What time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Featuring plays by Mohammad Al Attar and Arzé Khodr
This event is free and open to the public. That’s right: Free and open to the public.
A synopsis of Withdrawal by Mohammad Al Attar from Syria; translated by Clem Naylor:
A synopsis of The House by Arzé Khodr from Lebanon; translated by Khalid Laith:
Nadia wants nothing else but to remain in the house she grew up in. Her sister, Reem, wants nothing else but to sell the house which is full of painful memories.
Plays translated from the Arabic (free plays!) will be going on all PEN weekend, so look here and here and here and here; here and here and here.
