Students see their creative works immortalized in print

April, 2013

A diverse collection of artworks created by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) students has been released with the publication of the third edition of Between Seminar Rooms.

The compendium is released each spring and comprises poetry, short stories, autobiographical literature, photographs, paintings and drawings, among other works.

The book was launched on Monday 1 April at an event held in the WCMC-Q student lounge, which featured musical performances by students and readings by contributors.

Second-year pre-medical student Ayesha Khalid began with a reading of her piece The Other Home, which was followed by excerpts from works penned by fourth-year medical student Moath Hamed, third-year medical student Navid Iqbal and third-year medical student Afaf Osman, among others. All of the readings were received with wild applause from the audience and words of encouragement from event coordinator Dr. Adam Larson, Visiting Lecturer in English as a Second Language.

Dr. Larson explained the ethos of Between Seminar Rooms.

“The book is a place where we can showcase the talents of our students beyond the classroom,” he said. “We appreciate that our students enjoy expressing themselves in a very wide variety of ways, so we accept submissions of nearly anything, from stories, comic strips and poems to photographs and even recipes.

“There are some excellent pieces of work in this book and there is a great sense of humor running all the way through it.”

Dr. Larson paid tribute to the sponsors of Between Seminar Rooms, Dr. Marco Ameduri, Associate Dean for Premedical Education, and his department, for their continued support for the book. Students were also keen to register their appreciation: Moath Hamed, who contributed a literary piece entitled Rapid Eye Movement, said: “This is the third time I have contributed to Between Seminar Rooms - I really enjoy the process of writing and the opportunity to be published. I enjoy writing for its own sake but I think it is also a useful exercise for developing the ability to communicate effectively, which is helpful because in the future I will need to give patients a narrative about their condition and their treatment that they can understand and engage with.”

Copies of Between Seminar Rooms are available free from WCMC-Q’s Writing Center, Room C055. Submissions can be emailed to between.seminar.rooms@gmail.com.