Literatures of Annihilation, Exile and Resistance is a research collective and lecture series founded by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi at the University of Notre Dame, where she is the Dorothy G. Griffin College Professor of English. Lit of Exile is focused on contemporary literature and art that has been shaped by migration, decolonization movements, and human rights violations. The series brings together Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian and North African writers and artists, both migrants and those situated in the region, together with American writers of color. Over the years, the series has hosted Elias Khoury, Isabella Hammad, Sinan Antoon, Brandon Hobson, Mosab Abu Toha, Ibtisam Azem, Amir Ahmadi Arian, Orlando White, Roger Reeves, Noor Naga, Kaveh Akbar, Solmaz Sharif, and Hannah Lillith Assadi among others. In 2022, Oloomi was featured as part of the Women Lead series at the University of Notre Dame where she discussed the intersections between her own writing practice and Lit of Exile programming.

“Writing about exile is a constant reminder both of the loneliness of exile and its tremendous transformative potential. There are a lot of blind spots when it comes to understanding the true costs of displacement, but at Notre Dame, there’s also goodwill to want to understand the lived experiences of others.”

—Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi

Watch videos from the Lit of Exile Archive