Lana Barkawi, Ph.D., is executive and artistic director of Mizna. She serves as the publisher of Mizna: SWANA Literature and Art and producer of Mizna’s Twin Cities Arab Film Festival. Her interest in fostering a local, national, and international space for Arab and South West Asian and North African art and community has brought Mizna in partnership with many artists and collectives to present creative work that engages, problematizes, and delights.