People

Our team brings together writers, artists, and academics from Detroit. Together, we’re participating in a dynamic conversation about how to support creative work that supports our community.

 

Laura Kraftowitz | Founding Executive Director

Laura Kraftowitz’s essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Lit Hub, Protean, and elsewhere. Her work has been profiled on NPR and Salon. She is a winner of the 2025 Gilda Award. Previously, she was an on-the-ground reporter in Gaza for The Electronic Intifada. Her first leadership role was as a coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement, using nonviolent civil disobedience to oppose Israel’s military occupation.

A white woman with dark shoulder-length curly hair, wearing a round-neck t-shirt, and standing against a plain background.

Edward Salem | Founding Artistic Director

​​Edward Salem is the author of Intifadas (Sarabande 2026) and Monk Fruit (Nightboat 2025). His poems have appeared in The Paris Review, The Yale Review, The New York Review of Books, POETRY, and elsewhere. His fiction can be found in Granta and BOMB. Born in Detroit to Palestinian parents, he was an artist throughout his thirties, working in performance and film. His work has been exhibited at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah, and The Hangar in Beirut.

An Arab man with a beard wearing a light-colored button-up shirt, standing outdoors in front of a white fence.
A close-up of a person with curly hair and glasses, with books and office supplies in the background.

Sabrina Balgamwalla | Board Member

Sabrina Balgamwalla is an advocate, teacher, and co-operator based in Detroit, Michigan. Since 2017, she has directed the Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic at Wayne State Law School. She writes about immigration policy through the lenses of intersectional feminism and political economy, and she is currently researching the history of cooperatives in Detroit. She is a proud Member-Owner of Book Suey, a co-op bookstore in Hamtramck.

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Sofia Farah | Board Member

Sofia is the Development Director of Mondoweiss, an independent media organization focused on providing news and analysis about Palestine and U.S foreign politics. Previously she was the Executive Director of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine. Sofia has a long history working with nonprofits and Palestine solidarity organizations, including in her home country Chile. Sofia is passionate about building stronger, equitable and inclusive communities locally and globally.

Mary Fuller | Board Member

Mary Fuller is a Senior Commercial Director for Microsoft’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Enterprise Operating Unit. Previously, she managed a sales and support team co-located in Brooklyn and Jaipur at SmartSign. She holds a BA from Smith College and an MBA from Johnson School of Management at Cornell University. She lives between Detroit and Brooklyn, and enjoys music, collecting art, independent cinema, reading, and traveling in her spare time.

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“The purpose of art is to accumulate the human within the human being.”

— Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Laureate and former resident of the Gothenburg City of Refuge, exiled for her criticism of the Belarusian regime