Told through a prism of female voices, the cinematic debut novel Gulf by Mo Ogrodnik follows five women with vastly different origins—from the Philippines to Ethiopia to New York City—whose lives bring them to the Arabian Gulf, where they collide with devastating and profound consequences.
Dounia, a young Saudi mother, finds herself alienated in a desolate, post-weather, air-conditioned modernist box and decides to rebel against all forms of domesticity. Flora, a Filipina domestic worker haunted by the flood that claimed her infant’s life, navigates the perils of her boss’s insurrection. Zeinah, a Syrian woman, seeks love within the confines of her arranged marriage to a jihadist and finds herself joining the female morality police. Justine, a white American curator, reckons with her own violence and ethical limitations when her life intersects with Eskedare, a spirited and defiant Ethiopian teenager whose dreams have dead-ended in the Gulf. Bold moves unlock vital consequences, each woman’s journey confronting us with our own capacity for cruelty, rebellion, resilience—and hope.
Written with unsettling intimacy and determined empathy, Gulf exposes the stark realities of what happens when a woman’s agency is stripped away and asks how far we will go in order to survive.
About the author – Mo Ogrodnik is a filmmaker, writer, and professor in the film department at NYU. She was the associate dean of the arts for NYU in Abu Dhabi and the director of FIND, a creative lab exploring the transnational heritage of the UAE. She’s served as a mentor for the Sundance Labs in Jordan and received fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell.
About the moderator – Mona Simpson is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at University of California, Berkeley, and languages and literature at Columbia University. She won a Whiting Award for her first novel, Anywhere but Here. It was a popular success and adapted as a film by the same name, released in 1999. She wrote a sequel, The Lost Father. Critical recognition has included the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize and making the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for her novel Off Keck Road.
Debut Novel Launch: Gulf by Mo Ogrodnik
Friday May 30th, 2025
7:00 PM
Village Well Events
Reserve your spot HERE!