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The Society of Arts and Letters sets out what membership means
Free, open to every AUIB student, in Arabic and English: the Member Handbook lists twelve programs and the traditions members keep.
Waraq News Desk · Monday, September 28
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BAGHDAD — The AUIB Society of Arts and Letters (SAL) has issued its Member Handbook, an eleven-page guide for every member, dated September 28, 2026, and prepared by the Society's founder and president, Shaheen Farjo.
Membership is free and open to every enrolled AUIB student, with no audition, portfolio or fee. A student joins by registering and signing the Member Pledge. Taking part in two Society activities in a semester makes a member a Voting Member, able to vote in elections and stand for office.
The handbook lists the Society's programs: Waraq, the bilingual journal (then a working title); Side Quest, a campus video series; Second Chapter, a fall book drive; the Typewriter Tour, which collects six-word stories every spring; the Majlis, a monthly salon with a guest, readings and tea; Open Pages writing workshops; a monthly Book Circle alternating Arabic and English; Scratch Night; Bad Poetry Night; Motion Night, a literary debate each term; the Gallery Wall for members' art and photography; and the Mutanabbi Walk, a trip to Baghdad's book street.
It also describes the Society's traditions: every new member types six words on the Society Typewriter for the Book of Members; Charter Night marks the Society's anniversary each October; and each April the outgoing president hands the new president a fresh typewriter ribbon.
"Everything we do is free, in Arabic and English, and open to every student," Farjo writes in the handbook's opening letter. "Come to a Majlis. Type your six words on the typewriter. Tell us what you want to make. We will help you make it."
Waraq is published by the Society of Arts and Letters. Waraq's News Desk compiled this report in October 2026 from the source below, with the help of an AI writing tool.
Source
First published in Waraq. The author keeps the copyright.