Koloud Tarapolsi

Koloud Tarapolsi is thrilled to be a part of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival to promote a positive image of Arab culture to children around the world. She moved to America with her family when she was 7 years old from Libya and got to know her adopted land by traveling to all 50 states, including Puerto Rico. Koloud received her Bachelors degree from Oklahoma State University, her Masters degree from the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies, and Museology Certification from the Burke Museum. She began her love of sharing art by being trained with the Seattle Art Museum as an art docent 25 years ago and has expanded on that to work as an art docent and artist-in-resident in various schools and summer camps in the Pacific Northwest. Koloud is regularly active in her community, having been appointed twice as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Redmond by the Mayor and served twice as Board Director of the Arab Center of Washington. Koloud began introducing Arab tales to children as a storyteller at local libraries and festivals 8 years ago. Last March, she opened a pop up BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) bookstore that benefited a refugee non-profit. Koloud founded ACraftyArab.com in 2008, a blog of fun, free, educational crafts, downloads, book lists and recipes for children and their caregivers. Her crafts can also be found on Multicultural Kid Blog and she is excited to be asked to co-Host the Multicultural Children’s Book Day once again. Her company also sells a line of educational products for teaching Arabic, including an alphabet poster, color poster, game cards, magnets, and a coloring book. Her line can be found online on Zibbet, Teachers Pay Teachers, Amazon and can also be found at the Smithsonian African Art Museum and Jerusalem Fund in Washington DC.