Director: Linda D. Delgado (Sister Widad) Assistant Director: Mahasin D. Shamsid-Deen Secretary: Balqees Mohammed Financial Officer: Saba Negash 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.
Sister Balqees Mohammed is the new WebAdmin supervising the publication and editing of the IWA’s organizational website.
The two anthologies, Many Poetic Voices, One Faith and Many Voices, One Faith II-Islamic Fiction Stories, which were published by MWP (Muslim Writers Publishing) in 2009 can be found at various international booksellers as well as the list at Amazon. For more information on both anthologies, which both showcase the many talents of many IWA members, go to the organization’s website: www.islamicwritersalliance.net or directly to the publisher: www.muslimwriterspublishing.com. You may also contact any of the IWA Board members for information on purchasing.
The publisher is offering a generous discount of 40% for retailers off the listed price of $8.95, although there is no offer available for consignment, whether for sales or distribution.
If you are interested in advertising the books on your websites or blogs, please contact Sr. Zabrina, IWA Marketing Officer, to attain the new IWA logo/banner and jpg with text for the anthologies.
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. Widad.
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.
A special note to all IWA Members and Associates: as valued members of the organization, we would like to remind you that the organization’s website is your website. We welcome your suggestions or comments on anything you think could stand improvement. Please feel free to send your comments directly to the IWA’s new WebAdmin at: balqees.mohammed@gmail.com, or to any of the other Board members, or even in the main egroup which is available for organizational communication between all members and associates.
An important reminder for all IWA Members and Associates who have a business outside of the organization, a fairly new feature we have added to the website is the “Business Directory”, in which is listed all IWA Members and Associates who wish to be listed, including a short synopsis of their business, as well as any contact information. The business itself does not have to be writing-related. It is simply a listing of those members and associates who are in business for themselves.
Any Members and Associates who are already published are also eligible to have their work represented in the “Books and More” section, where we present a jpg image of the bookcover (or magazine, newspaper, or recorded message, etc.), as well as linking to a relevant website where the viewer can learn more about how to purchase the articles.
Lastly, but of course not least, is the section where Members have their own private page listed, a free service provided for our dues-paying members, where they may list a short bio of themselves and their work, as well as a CV-type report of their work, awards and credits, plus of course contact information. This is an excellent venue of free advertisement provided for dues-paying members, so if you have anything to update, please be sure to send in your information to the Director for future application to your page on the website.
Islamic Ink
Islamic Ink, the IWA’s free online magazine which is published and distributed quarterly, is yet another excellent venue which showcases IWA talent. The editor-in-chief is an IWA member. All content, both editorial, news, and all literary contributions are from IWA members. Subscription is free, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to enjoy yet another excellent aspect of the IWA. Past editions as well as information on how to subscribe can be viewed at the IWA’s website: www.islamicwritersalliance.net. Just link onto the page for Islamic Ink.
IWA Administrative News:
1. As of the end of March 2010, Sis Safiyyah (S.E. Jihad Levine) announced her resignation from her position of Financial Officer for the organization. She had served for several years in the past in the capacity of Secretary as well as Director in addition to that of Financial Officer. We thank Sister Safiyyah for her strong dedication and leadership she provided this organization.
In accordance with the procedure outlined in the organization’s ByLaws, the IWA Board, as elected representatives of the IWA general membership, voted in favor of Saba Negash, who volunteered, to accept the position of Financial Officer for the remaining of 2010, until elections for a new Board will be held for the next two-year term.
2. After much fruitless effort to attain a new WebAdmin for the organization’s website, first from within the organization’s membership and then from without the membership, Sis Balqees Mohammed, current IWA Secretary, sent in her application for the position to the Board. The IWA Board, as representatives of the general membership and in accordance with the ByLaws to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with any Board member also overseeing the website as WebAdmin, voted in favor of promoting Sister Balqees Mohammed, IWA member since 2007 and IWA Secretary 2009-2010, as the new IWA WebAdmin. All felt it to be a favorable move, seeing as how Sister Balqees was the one who has programmed, designed and initiated the current new website.
IWA Member & Associate News & Accomplishments:
Br. Irving Karchmar, IWA Member and published author, has announced that Master of the Jinn went into its fifth printing in Indonesia, with a new cover. Also, a contract has been signed for an English-language publication of Master of the Jinn in India, in October, 2010. Finally, the Malay language edition will come out by the end of the year in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah! To read excerpts, reviews and readers comments, go to http://www.masterofthejinn.com.
Sr. Saba Negash, IWA Financial Officer, is working on her novel, The Sahabeeyeen. The manuscript is now in the process of being critiqued. Saba had two articles and a recipe accepted and will be published in the May/June issue of "Muslim American Girl" magazine. This summer, the Family Reads team will be sponsoring a Summer Reading Program for children and families to encourage reading and literacy. Please check out the website @ www.familyreads.weebly.com for more information about the program. Saba Negash is the newly appointed Financial Officer of the Islamic Writers Alliance. She looks forward to carrying out her role and duties to the best of her abilities, insha Allah.
Sr. Linda D. Delgado, IWA Director, author and publisher of Muslim Writers Publishing, was interviewed by Saara A. Ali, the Owner-Editor of The Guide to Muslim Children’s Books and Media (MCBM).The interview will be published in May 2010 at the organization’s blog: http://muslimkidsbooks.wordpress.com. MCBM publishes written reviews about Muslim children’s, youth, and teen fiction books. The owner is a strong supporter of Islamic fiction. The first book in the Islamic Rose Books series, The Visitors, authored by Linda D. Delgado, was reviewed and the review is published at MCBM.
Linda D. Delgado, owner of Muslim Writers Publishing, announces the publishing of a new young adult/adult fiction novel, Catch Me If You Dare, authored by L.D. Alan. The fiction novel is the first book to be published in the new Rainey Walker book series. The publisher expects the novel to be released for sale mid-May 2010. To learn more about this crime thriller novel you can visit: www.raineywalkerseries.wordpress.com
Linda D. Delgado wrote for her monthly column -- FOCUS article, Every Day Is ‘M’ Day to be published in the May 2010 edition of Crescent Times-Australia.
Sr. Cordelia Gaffarcomes the islamic Writers Alliance as a writer in silence for the vast majority of her life. Barricading herself in numbers as an accountant for most of her adult life, it wasn't until she married and decided to home educate her children that she rediscovered her passion. Although she has always, read, enjoyed and written great literature and poetry, until recent years has never published anything. Some articles on local activities have been published in a Mid-Atlantic publication called the Muslim Link Newspaper which is circulated in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia in the United States.
In April, this writer has come out of hiding, publishing an articles on the MAS project site of http://growmama.com called Others Have Eyes and has three articles in the upcoming May issue of the UK e-zine www.mumandmuslim.com. To round out the month, she started her own blogspot http://livinginharmonymotherhood.blogspot.com/ to share her daily thoughts on holistic living and being in harmony with oneself as a human being, mother and muslim. Look for more from this home educating mother of four.
Sr. Balqees Mohammed, IWA Secretary, published author and professional editor, is pleased to announce her recent appropriation as the new WebAdmin for the IWA’s official website. This work, as well as some work she has done for some others in programming or arranging websites, is promoting her ambition towards doing more in the field of website programming and design. She has several official sites in the works to be published online soon.
Sr. Balqees wrote her monthly Islamic Awareness article for the website of the Abha Communities Center, a division of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Propagation and Dawa, which can be viewed at www.islamunveiled.com. This last month’s title was: “Getting Acquainted with Allah”. A collection of her articles can be viewed at her blog.
Sr. Balqees also had some contact, via some other editing jobs she did on an English translation of an Arabic booklet on Etiquettes for those Intending Hajj and Umrah, with international publishers “Darussalaam”. She edited for Darussalaam the English translation of the original Arabic dealing with the etiquette of learning Allah’s names, and it’s importance and validity to Muslims. During her contact with the offices of Darussalaam, Sr. Balqees gave them links to view the IWA’s website, and they in turn contacted some of the membership in hopes of future opportunities for some of our members.
