Local poet helps organize Mideast fest Atwater poet Lina Gilliland helped organize a Middle Eastern writers' conference for later this month. She'll join authors from 17 countries in Amman, Jordan, to share their work and discuss social change. By Adam Ashton AASHTON@MERCEDSUN-STAR.COM Last Updated: August 2, 2005, 04:15:21 AM PDT ATWATER -- Lina Gilliland's love for words is about to take her around the world. The Native American poet is one of 50 writers who will participate in the Odyssey International Literary Festival later this month. Culled from 17 countries, the writers will share their works, talk politics and discuss Middle Eastern social change in Amman, Jordan. Gilliland, 39, says the conference represents a chance to open communication between writers and leading thinkers from Mediterranean nations. "Writers always have an impact and they often can bridge gaps that diplomats and political people cannot," she said. The conference marks a key step in Gilliland's own transformation from a longtime technical writer into a poet and social activist. Her shift in focus started five years ago, when a brain tumor triggered a series of incapacitating seizures. She ran through her savings trying to stop the seizures and keep the cancer in check. Losing everything helped her see what was most important, she said. "I saw what it was like to live with nothing," she said. Since then, she published a book -- "Poetry of the Moon" -- through an online company, and several other works in poetry anthologies. She said her experiences motivated her to address social issues like domestic violence, poverty and abuse in her works. Gilliland also devoted herself to learning more about Middle Eastern politics, focusing particularly on Israel and Palestine. Her own ancestry as a Native American meshed well with displaced Palestinians, she said. Her politics -- favoring an Israeli pullout from the territories it gained in 1967 conflicts with Egypt, Jordan and Syria -- and her prose introduced her to a number of Middle Eastern writers, she said. Those connections spurred this month's conference. Gilliland took a leading role in developing it -- selecting American delegates, recruiting Native American dancers and persuading some of her Arabic counterparts to welcome Israel's participation as well. Part of the conference will center on traditional storytelling, a focus that allowed Gilliland to bring along a number of burgeoning Native American writers. Two of them, Kimberly Shuck and Jennifer Fox Bennett, run a spoken-word series at San Francisco's Native American Cultural Center. They said they're eager to sit down with writers from around the world to talk about their craft, learn about other cultures and share stories. Plus, the program pays their way, making it an easy decision to accept the offer. "I'm very ignorant of Jordanian writers, but I've been wanting for my work to be part of a large conversation for awhile," said Shuck, a former American Indian studies professor at San Francisco State University. Fox Bennett said she picked up a travel book about Jordan and has been soaking up as much as she could about the region and its ancient cultures. She's also practicing some Arabic at a local store. This could mark a change for her, because she says her audience sometimes peppers her with questions about Native American life when she reads at events. "I'm looking forward to being in the seat of learning about other people's folk cultures," she said. Gilliland plans to spend three weeks traveling around Jordan and then visiting another poet in Romania. And, if any awkwardness comes up through a cultural mishap, she has a plan to smooth over the tension suggested to her by a Saudi poet. "I'll just act myself and laugh the way I laugh," she said. Reporter Adam Ashton can be reached at 385-2484 or aashton@mercedsun-star.com. Lina was invited to go with the Native american Leadershp Alliance in April of 2006, to meet with 12 members of parliment along with Prime Minister Sharon and the new Palestinian President Abbas to discuss the current political crisis in the region and encourage healing between the two States.