Episode 1: Omar Mouallem

On today’s show, we talk to Omar Mouallem. At any given moment, Omar is splitting his time across many diverse projects not only in his written work but also in filmmaking and education. His book Inside the Inferno: A Firefighter’s Story of the Brotherhood that Saved Fort McMurray was co-authored with Damian Asher, who was a fire captain in the city during the 2016 wildfires. Omar also has a new book on the way, titled Praying to the West, a travel memoir about Muslims in the Americas, and writes about an array of topics including food, masculinity, fatherhood, Islamophobia, and art. But it is perhaps his most recent project that is of special interest to writers: shortly after we all went into quarantine, Omar started Pandemic University School of Writing, a writer’s university that gathered authors and their eager students into an online community. It wasn’t long before graduating classes formed and the community grew, at a moment when the writing field was going through one of its most uncertain times. Today, Omar joins us to talk about crafting your best work by gathering together and collaborating. Transcript coming soon. Find Omar at the links below. Website: https://omarmouallem.com/ Twitter: @OmarMouallem Pandemic U: https://pandemicuniversity.com/ Twitter: @PandemicSchool Every Freelance Writer Needs A Pitch Bank: https://omarmouallem.medium.com/every-freelance-writer-needs-a-pitch-bank-feel-free-to-steal-mine-e898959a68c1 You can find Omar’s book, Inside the Inferno: A Firefighter’s Story of the Brotherhood that Saved Fort McMurray here: https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Inside-the-Inferno/Damian-Asher/9781501171123 If you're interested in writing nonfiction, the University of King's College MFA in Creative Nonfiction might be for you. Find out more at https://ukings.ca/area-of-study/master-of-fine-arts-in-creative-nonfiction/. Subscribe to Further Reading: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:952114480/sounds.rss Contact us: kingsfurtherreading@gmail.com If you'd like to hear more book-related conversations, check out Bookings, the podcast of our friends at the King's Coop Bookstore.