Join the Jameel Library for a wide range of programmes led by community members this September! You could also pitch your own programme here. 

Writing Circle: Writing Against the Algorithm with Hassan Alshiyoukh

September 4, 2026
5-8pm

What does it mean to write honestly in an age built for speed, performance, and manufactured opinion?

Join Hassan Alshiyoukh in a workshop exploring the personal essay as a space where complexity is welcomed, contradictions are embraced, and the slow work of self-discovery takes precedence over the curated self. Through close readings of acclaimed essayists, guided writing exercises, and peer and instructor feedback, participants will move from observation to reflection, learning to ask not just “what happened?” but “what does it mean and why does it matter?”

Together, participants will trace how personal experience becomes literary non-fiction: identifying compelling subjects in everyday life, developing a central guiding question, shaping memory into structure, and revising toward a polished, reflective draft.

This workshop is open to writers of all experience levels who want to write with greater honesty, depth, and attention. Not for an algorithm, but for a human reader.

RSVP here. 

About the instructor

Hassan Alshiyoukh is a writer, editor, and educator. He was a creative writing mentor at Montpelier High School and its Community-Based Learning program in Montpelier, Vermont. In Washington, DC, he was an instructor at Writopia Lab and served as an affiliate coordinator and judge for the Scholastic Writing Awards. He received his MFA in Writing & Publishing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he focused on historical fiction and the art of reimagining, and served as assistant fiction editor for Hunger Mountain magazine. He also attended the Yale Writers’ Workshop and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. His work has appeared in Montage, Words for Charity, and the Tale Time Podcast. He won the 2019 Wilder Fiction Prize and received the 2021 Mari Sandoz Emerging Writers’ Fellowship. He is the author of the poetry chapbook Home After the Maple (2023).

Reading Circle: Bearing Witness to Narratives of Illness with Lama Albalawi and Nouf Alzahrani

September 19, 2026
5-7pm

Join Lama Albalawi and Nouf Alzahrani for a medical humanities reading circle that explores illness as lived experience, shaped by memory, identity, relationships, and culture, rather than clinical diagnosis alone. Drawing on illness narratives and narrative medicine, participants engage with memoirs, essays, and literary texts to examine how storytelling gives meaning to suffering, grief, trauma, and care.

Through close reading and reflective discussion, participants will sharpen their attentiveness to voice, silence, memory, and testimony, gaining critical and interdisciplinary reading practices drawn from literary studies, trauma studies, and cultural theory.

This session is intended for researchers, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in exploring illness through narrative and critical inquiry. By the end, participants will have a richer framework for interpreting first-person narratives and engaging with texts across cultural contexts.

RSVP here.

About the instructors

Lama Albalawi is a storyteller and researcher based in Jeddah. With a degree in Literary and Cultural Studies, she explores culture, society, and language through compelling narratives.

Nouf Alzahrani is a Literary and Cultural studies student at King Abdulaziz University, She holds a Bachelor’s in English Language. Alzahrani is highly interested in language studies, research, and theatrical script writing and performance.

Children’s Storytelling Session!

September 23, 24, 25, 2026
6-7pm

Join the Jameel Library team for an hour of stories selected from the library’s collection, taking young readers on journeys that explore ideas of home, land, and belonging.

Stories include:

• Every House Is Different [written by Dima Al-Qadi, illustrated by Fatima Ka’een]
• What Do We Do When We Miss Someone? [written by Bothayna Al-Essa, illustrated by Omamah Ashmeel]
• Homeland  [written by Fatima Al-Maadoul, illustrated by Salah Bissar]

Walk-ins welcome

Thinking Space: Do Cities Resemble Their Names? with Noor Hazim 

September 24, 2026
5-7pm

Join Noor Hazim in a thinking space exploring the names of cities. In this session, participants experience a philosophical inquiry that begins with deconstructing concepts and generating core questions in regards to the names and meanings of Jeddah. Each participant leaves with thinking tools that deepen their skills in philosophical dialogue and questioning, alongside a personal perception of the relationship between a name and its named entity.

RSVP here.

About the instructor

Noor Hazim is a certified P4C (Philosophical Thinking) facilitator. Her practice navigates between facilitating dialogues, arts, and reflective writing. She seeks to provide interactive thinking spaces that connect participants with books, creating intellectual experiences that encourage independent and critical inquiry and collaborative cultural production.