Good Will Happen, edited by Maryan Nagy Captan, is a collection of writings from Iraqi and Syrian poets that poses essential questions about belonging, empathy, and art’s power to define home. Created in collaboration with Swarthmore College’s Friends, Peace, & Sanctuary project, these poems and images advance the conversation surrounding art’s role in forging connections that transcend language.

More about the collaborators…

Swarthmore College’s Friends, Peace, & Sanctuary project, supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, brings renowned book artists into conversation with Syrian and Iraqi individuals who have resettled to Philadelphia. Driven by questions about displacement and refuge, history and experience, the project explores art’s capacity to build empathy and create a deeper sense of belonging.

Maryan Nagy Captan, an experimental writer, educator, and performance poet based in Austin, Texas. She is a Poetry Fellow at The Michener Center for Writers and serves as the Marketing Director for Bat City Review. Maryan is the author of copy/body (Empty Set Press, 2017) and an alumna of the Disquiet International Literary Program. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in The Egyptian Writers Folio (Anomaly Press), Foundry, ProLit, AJAR, Apiary Magazine, Mantra Review, Boneless/Skinless, Sundog Lit, and elsewhere.