Director: Linda D. Delgado (Sister Widad) Assistant Director: Mahasin D. Shamsid-Deen Secretary: Balqees Mohammed Financial Officer: S. E. Jihad Levine (Sister Safiyyah) Marketing Officer: Zabrina bint Abu Bakr Legal Officer:Deborah McNichol (serving in a non-voting, advisor capacity)
Each of these elected positions of the Board of Directors is on a volunteer basis.
Work for Hire Positions –
Sister Umm Junayd bint Naeem is the Editor in Chief of Islamic Ink, IWA’s quarterly magazine.
As per regulations regarding the 5013c non-profit status approval process, the IWA held the Annual Board Meeting, which is to be held for public view and participation, on February 17, 2010. IWA Director, Sis Widad, directed the meeting, opening it with a statement of the state of affairs of the organization, and Sis Balqees, IWA Secretary, posted the annual Secretarial report of 2009, re-capping all of the organization’s news and projects of the previous year, while Sis Widad had posted the Annual Financial report for 2009, showing the current state of affairs of the organization financially. The meeting was conducted with success, with some of the other members of the Board participating, such as the contribution by Sis Deb, IWA Legal Counsel, in which she stated her own position and contribution as Legal Counsel to the organization. Some other IWA members were also in attendance for the meeting. At the conclusion of the day of February 17, 2010, the meeting was officially closed when no one responded after offering up the reminder of near closure, and minutes from the meeting were posted in the 2010 folder in the files section of the IWA Annual Meeting egroup site through Yahoo Groups.
IWA Poetry & Fiction Anthologies:
The Poetry anthology Many Poetic Voices, One Faith produced by IWA and published by MWP (Muslim Writers Publishing), was published and released in August 2009. Complimentary copies (one each) were sent to the contributing authors, illustrators, and other professionals who made this anthology possible.
The Islamic Fiction anthology Many Voices, One Faith II-Islamic Fiction Stories was published and released during the month of October 2009. Contributors’ complimentary copies were sent to those authors and artists that contribute to its completion.
For more information on both anthologies and directives on how to purchase, log onto the IWA website: www.islamicwritersalliance.net, or go directly to the publisher: www.muslimwrietrspublishing.com. You may also contact any of the IWA Board directors for information on purchasing.
For those outside of the USA or having an international shipping address, you will most likely need to make your orders via an international retailer. Listings should be available through Amazon as well as other various international booksellers.
Although books will not be sold or distributed on consignment, retailers are eligible for a 40% discount off list price, which is $8.95.
For those interested in advertising the books on your sites or blogs, contact Sr. Zabrina, IWA Marketing Officer, to attain the new IWA logo/banner and jpg with text for the anthology for addition to your site.
Orders from buyers and retailers can also be obtained and referred back to the IWA or MWP for sales.
IWA Catalog:
A comprehensive listing of all participating IWA members who have paid for advertisement for their inclusion, this catalog is an excellent additional marketing tool at a reasonably low price for all and any members interested in being included in future updates It is also an excellent and helpful marketing tool to have on hand when visiting bookstores, schools, educational professionals, or anyone else who you are interested in raising interest with for the presence and purpose of the IWA.
To view the catalog, log onto the website: www.islamicwritersalliance.net and then choose the catalog from the navigational links on the left.
For those interested in downloading a printable version, please contact the IWA Marketing Officer, Sr. Zabrina or the IWA Director, Sr. Safiyyah.
501C3 Non-Profit Status & Administrative Measures
As of September 11, 2009, the IWA achieved non-profit status, and is now officially known as Islamic Writers Alliance, Inc.
Measures are to resume soon for application of IRS qualification, which will mean that we will be eligible to receive tax-exempting donations.
IWA Website
With the commencement of the year of 2010 on January 1, we were left without a valid administrator for the website, due to the recent resignation of Umm Junayd from the position. That transformed into the need to contract a new hosting service more compatible for the current Board members to operate, seeing as how no valid candidate came forward, neither from within the IWA nor from without. The domain name has remained the same, but the hosting service is new, and much of the material on the site has been re-arranged and reviewed and updated to reveal this new measure. Sis Widad and Sis Balqees are doing the current design, updating and maintenance of the site.
The IWA website has much to offer all in the form of information about the IWA present and past, as well as the various products and services available through this international group of professionals dedicated to producing and dispersing quality Islamic Literature.
IWA members and associates-do not miss out on this grand opportunity for yourselves in the form of some free and some very nominally priced advertising opportunities. For the members, there is free of charge the chance to publicize your talents via the Members’ Page venue. Attention Associates: this is a great incentive on its own to become a due-paying member.
An important new addition to the site is the Business Directory, which is a listing of all IWA members and associates who have a business outside of their writing work or completely different from their association with the IWA. There is also the pages of “Books & More”, which was previously the “Bookstore”, which is a listing of those published authors, editors, publishers, artists and more desiring this additional spotlight to showcase their work. In addition, there are pages to update you on the history and evolution of the IWA, as well as regular monthly updates concerning important news as well as updates to the members’ pages.
Another new section soon to be implemented is the Young Authors’ Pages, which will be similar to the current Members’ Pages in that it is where the participating young authors have a page to represent them and their work, including the option of the display of one jpg showing their published work. More will come on this as this project develops.
Islamic Ink is the quarterly published online magazine showcasing both IWA talent as well as news and updates of the organization, available for subscription via the IWA website: www.islamicwritersalliance.net. Past editions can be viewed via the IWA website.
IWA Member News & Accomplishments:
Linda D. Delgado(Sr. Widad) wrote an article for her monthly column in the Crescent Times-Australia newspaper. The article will be published in the March 2010 edition. The title of the article is, FOCUS: Muslim Identity Crisis.
She was also busy much of the month in coordination with Sr. Balqees updating and molding the new website for the IWA.
Br. Irving Karchmarentered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest in February, and is happy to say he made the first cut for his Sufi novel, Master of the Jinn.
It is the first time that previously published Self-Published novels have been allowed.
There were 5000 entries each in both the General Fiction and Young Adult categories, and the first cut was determined on a 300-word synopsis. Now 1000 are left in both categories, and a 3-5 thousand-word excerpt will determine the second cut. And we will know by March 15th to the 23rd.
Sr. Fawzia Gilani-Williams announced that one of her stories, Nabeel’s New Pants, will be reviewed in Booklist.
Sr. Balqees Mohammed, IWA Secretary, announced the publication of her monthly article on the website of the local chapter of the Center of Islamic Education in Abha, Saudi Arabia (www.islamunveiled.org). This month’s article was titled: “The Little Things Do Add Up”.
Members: 63 (1 honorary), total members: 62 (two new members from the previous month: one new and one transferred status from associate to dues-paying)
Associates: 36 (one associate became a dues-paying member)
Total: 98
Report Prepared and Posted by:
Balqees Mohammed
IWA Secretary 2009-2010
March 10, 2010
