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Humans are one species on a planet of millions of species. The literary collection Creature Needs is a project that grew out of a need to do something with grievous, anxious energy—an attempt to nourish the soul in a meaningful way, and an attempt to start somewhere specific in the face of big, earthly challenges and changes, to create a polyvocal call to arms about animal extinction and habitat loss and the ways our needs are interconnected. The book's editors, Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spelman, and Susan Tacent, are joined here in conversation.More about the book: Creature Needs is published in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Creature Conserve. The following writers contributed new literary works inspired by scientific articles: Kazim Ali, Mary-Kim Arnold, Ramona Ausubel, David Baker, Charles Baxter, Aimee Bender, Kimberly Blaeser, Oni Buchanan, Tina Cane, Ching-In Chen, Mónica de la Torre, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Thalia Field, Ben Goldfarb, Annie Hartnett, Sean Hill, Hester Kaplan, Donika Kelly, Robin McLean, Miranda Mellis, Rajiv Mohabir, Kyoko Mori, David Naimon, Craig Santos Perez, Beth Piatote, Rena Priest, Alberto Ríos, Eléna Rivera, Sofia Samatar, Sharma Shields, Eleni Sikelianos, Maggie Smith, Juliana Spahr, Tim Sutton, Jodie Noel Vinson, Asiya Wadud, Claire Wahmanholm, Marco Wilkinson, Jane Wong.About the editors:Christopher Kondrich, poet in residence at Creature Conserve, is author of Valuing, winner of the National Poetry Series, and Contrapuntal. His writing has been published in The Believer, The Kenyon Review, and The Paris Review.Lucy Spelman is founder of Creature Conserve, a nonprofit dedicated to combining art with science to cultivate new pathways for wildlife conservation. A zoological medicine veterinarian, she teaches biology at the Rhode Island School of Design and is author of National Geographic Kids Animal Encyclopedia and coeditor of The Rhino with Glue-On Shoes.Susan Tacent, writer in residence at Creature Conserve, is a writer, scholar, and educator whose fiction has been published in Blackbird, DIAGRAM, and Tin House Online.Episode references:The Lord God Bird by Chelsea Steubayer-Scudder in Emergence MagazineThinking Like a Mountain by Jedediah Purdy in n+1Praise for the book:A thought-provoking and emotionally resonant read that stands out for its lyrical prowess and formal innovation, making it a significant contribution to contemporary literature as well as a key volume bridging the gap between the worlds of science and art.”—Library JournalCreature Needs: Writers Respond to the Science of Animal Conservation is available from University of Minnesota Press.
Scandal at the Hugo Awards; Do straight guys hate novels?; writer Kazim Ali is our guest to talk about his novel, Indian Winter, Coach House Books' submission for the 2024 Republic of Consciousness Prize, US & Canada. Thank you for listening! If you like what you hear, give us a follow at: X: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonInstagram: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang Books, Lori Feathers, Sam JordisonFacebook: Across the Pond, Galley Beggar Press, Interabang BooksTheme music by Carlos Guajardo-Molina
Author of A Citadel Of Whispers, a choose your adventure novel. Subscribe to Sci-Fi Talk Plus..yes it's Free.
Join us for the first half of a special two-part podcast featuring Kazim Ali, who recently visited us in Philadelphia to read from his new book Sukun: New and Selected Poems (https://bookshop.org/p/books/sukun-new-and-selected-poems-kazim-ali/19644670?ean=9780819500700) (Wesleyan University Press, 2023). KAZIM ALI was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry Inquisition, Sky Ward, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books' New England/New York Award; The Fortieth Day; All One's Blue; and the cross-genre texts Bright Felon and Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. After a career in public policy and organizing, Ali taught at various colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Davidson College, St. Mary's College of California, and Naropa University. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light.
On today's episode of The Lives of Writers, Jeff Alessandrelli interviews Kazim Ali.Kazim Ali is a poet, novelist, and essayist. His most recent book is Sukun: New and Selected Poems, which draws from his six previous full-length collections, and includes 35 new poems. He's also published novels, translations, anthologies, and a memoir. He was a founding editor of Nightboat Books.Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Fur Not Light. He is also the director and co-editor of the small presses Fonograf Editions and Bunny Presse.____________PART ONE, topics include:--the Kinkos era of indie publishing-- looking back at 25 years of work for SUKUN: New & Selected Poems-- finding the echoes in a body of work-- the LP as poetic book form-- also putting out a New & Selected with Harper Collins India-- revising early poems and Dickenson's alternate wordings-- the new book within the new book____________PART TWO, topics include:-- starting out as a reader and writing-- varying Englishes and language that crosses borders-- working as an organizer for student organizations-- the many genres in Kazim's body of work-- not changing just to achieve a marker of success-- founding Nightboat Books or small presses in general-- always working on something creative____________PART THREE, topics include:-- the beginnings and evolution of Nightboat Books-- the small press experimental writing landscape then and now-- spirituality and faith ____________Podcast theme music provided by Mike Nagel, author of Duplex. Here's more of his project: Yeah Yeah Cool Cool.The Lives of Writers is edited and produced by Michael Wheaton.
Kathleen Rooney discusses her new novel, which is based on silent film star Colleen Moore and the fairy castle she created, as well as the best kind of weirdos, nailing the unique voice of her protagonist, researching the silent film era, and more! Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press, a nonprofit publisher of literary work in hybrid genres, as well as a founding member of Poems While You Wait, a team of poets and their typewriters who compose commissioned poetry on demand. She teaches in the English Department at DePaul University, and her recent books include the national best-seller Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and the novel Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.. Where Are the Snows, her latest poetry collection, was chosen by Kazim Ali for the X.J. Kennedy Prize and published by Texas Review Press in Fall 2022. With her sister Beth Rooney, she is the author of the picture book Leaf Town Forever, forthcoming in 2025 from University of Minnesota Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Author of The Citadel Of Whispers, where the reader can choose how the adventure will go. Subscribe for free lifetime access to Sci-Fi Talk Plus.
It's Leo season! And so we've got the energy of confidence and fire to create the life we want to live. In this episode, I invite you to map out the vision for your life. Nobody asks us anymore where we see ourselves in three, five, and ten years. When you hit midlife, you still have 30 to 40 years of living to do. So tell me: What do you envision for the second half of your life? Where are you living? What kind of relationships do you have? Do you feel financially at ease? Also, the Knight of Wands comes forward to remind us that arrogance can increase our blind spots. So dream big but don't get it twisted that you are in full control of making those dreams come true. Partnering with the universe is the way to go! * August is my month of selfless service. I'm offering complimentary 1:1 coaching packages for two people who identify as women/femmes/nonbinary folks of color for the month of August. Application is available at my Instagram bio @leslieannhobayan Tarot card: Knight of Wands (reversed) Poem: "Cover Me" by Kazim Ali
Guest host Sara Rauch talks with Katherine Indermaur about life changing with a ten-month-old, poetry and sound, editing for Sugar House Review, poetry on the page, her book I|I, the page as mirror, the sheffer stroke, the mirror in history, the mirror in her life, implicating the reader, going from chapbook to full-length, the ways we talk about ourselves, and more.Katherine Indermaur's first full-length book, I|I (Seneca Review Books, 2022), was selected as the winner of the 2022 Deborah Tall Lyric Essay Book Prize by Kazim Ali and as the winner of the 2023 Colorado Book Award. Katherine is also the author of two chapbooks, Facing the Mirror: An Essay (Coast|noCoast, 2020) and Pulse (Ghost City Press, 2018).Podcast theme: DJ Garlik & Bertholet's "Special Sause" used with permission from Bertholet.
On February 28, 2023, The Lannan Center hosted a reading and talk featuring poets Kazim Ali and Fanny Howe.Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry Inquisition, Sky Ward, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books' New England/New York Award; The Fortieth Day; All One's Blue; and the cross-genre texts Bright Felon and Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light.Fanny Howe is the author of over twenty books of poetry and prose including Love and I (2019), The Needle's Eye (2016), Second Childhood (2014), Come and See (2011), On the Ground (2004), Gone (2003), Selected Poems (2000), Forged (1999), Q (1998), One Crossed Out (1997), O'Clock (1995), and The End (1992). The recipient of the 2002 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Selected Poems (2000), she has also won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Poetry Foundation, the California Council for the Arts and the Village Voice, as well as fellowships from the Bunting Institute and the MacArthur Colony. Howe was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2001. A creative writing teacher of note, Howe has lectured at Tufts University, Emerson College, Columbia University, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is Professor Emerita of Writing and Literature at the University of California, San Diego.Music: Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.
The queens defy Big Sonny and play an associative game that leads to a lot of poetry love -- and some hot dish.Please support the poets we mention in today's show by buying their books! You can shop indie at Loyalty Bookstores, a Black-owned DC-area independent bookseller. Walt Whitman's “Song of Myself" ends with these lines:If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.{....}Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,Missing me one place search another,I stop somewhere waiting for you. Mark Doty has a great book on Whitman called What Is the Grass: Walt Whitman in My Life (Norton, 2021). In My Alexandria, there is only one “Days of….” poem and it is “Days of 1981,” as James correctly said. Benjamin Garcia's Thrown in the Throat was selected for the National Poetry Series by Kazim Ali and published by Milkweed (2020). Read more about Garcia at his website here. You can learn more about Darnell Arnoult and her fabulous work on her website. Maggie Smith kicks off the 16th Palm Beach Poetry Festival in this video (~20 min). Rebecca Morgan Smith is the editor of Memorious, and you can learn more about her own writing at her website here. Learn more about Jacques J. Rancourt's fabulosity by visiting his website (and ordering his latest book, Brocken Spectre). Read Olena Kalytiak Davis's poem “Sweet Reader, Flanneled and Tulled” here. Susan Mitchell is not the highest paid professor in American poetry. Her salary is searchable since public universities publish salary information. sam sax's poem we mention is “Ode to the Belt,” which was published in The Nation in 2018. You can read it on sam's twitter feed here. Read James Tate's “Goodtime Jesus” here. James also likes “The Lost Pilot,” which you can read here.
In this episode, Diane and Alan chat with with author, poet, translator, professor and editor Kazim Ali about his Choose Your Own Adventure novel: Citidal of Whispers. They also discuss Choose Your Own Adventure history, writing branching story lines, D&D, and how to get involved in social causes.
Far from being religious, I am an avowed apostate. So listener beware... Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 9 min 44 sec
Chris and Courtney sit down with Kazim Ali, Editor/Founder of Nightboat Books, and Department Chair for Literature at UC San Diego, about all things passions, process, pitfalls, poetry... and Choose Your Own Adventure! KAZIM ALI was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry Inquisition, Sky Ward, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books' New England/New York Award; The Fortieth Day; All One's Blue; and the cross-genre texts Bright Felon and Wind Instrument. His novels include the recently published The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. He is also an accomplished translator (of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others) and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. After a career in public policy and organizing, Ali taught at various colleges and universities, including Oberlin College, Davidson College, St. Mary's College of California, and Naropa University. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Author of a unique book where the reader choices the path of the hero, The Citadel Of Whispers
“It's important for each person to find their own way of connecting beyond our current reality.” - Kazim Ali Welcome to another episode of Spiritual Grit Podcast! In today's episode, I have a very special guest, Kazim Ali! Kazim was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres and he is also an accomplished translator of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others, and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism. In this conversation, we talked about how books including the bible were being translated differently, depending on the agenda of those in power since access to sacred texts were usually controlled by the authority. Ultimately, it is our personal conversation with sacred text that guides us through life… a kind of choose-your-own-adventure journey. Speaking of which, Kazim also talks about what inspired him to write his newest book, The Citadel of Whisperers, an actual choose-your-own-adventure book! Listen in on Leslieann and Kazim's chat about a wide range of topics, including the importance of our conversation with texts, sacred or otherwise. * Follow me on Instagram for Maverick Mondays, Free Verse Fridays, and some real talk about healing, poetry, AND play: @leslieannhobayan or email me at leslieann@suryagian.com * Sign up for Joyful Meditation, a 5-part introductory series to meditation. Each recorded class is just a half hour. Five classes to create self-awareness and inner peace-- for just $11.11! Today's poems/ Books mentioned: “Burglars Hears Watchdogs” by Hafiz “Recite” by Kazim Ali Membership(s)/Retreat(s) Mentioned: Joyful Meditation : https://suryagian.com/joyful-meditation
A professor, poet and writer has a new book where readers can choose their own adventure.
Recorded by Kazim Ali and Tara Jayakar for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on August 2, 2021. www.poets.org
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including several volumes of poetry, novels, and translations. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Alice James Books, 2020) and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. Social Media: Twitter: @kazimalipoet, IG: @kazimalipoet "Abu Nuwas" previous appeared in Inquisition, Wesleyan University Press, 2018. Text of today's poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
In recognition of Ramadan, Rev. Brian Chenowith regales us with a story of young theology students attempting to fast in solidarity with Muslim classmates. This tale then unfurls into a broader consideration of the value of fasting and the difficulty of similar religious practices. The beginning of this episode is a reading, Ramadan by Kazim Ali. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=d-CcoL6oQgAQLay31fDlldX0lG4pPB-spBUmKaBZ51foVF7NWvq9Kt1J_o17tiIgZw9kpm&country.x=US&locale.x=US)
GOING BACK: What Home Means (Episode 37) Guest: Kazim Ali, Author of Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. Music: Cullah The child of South Asian migrants, Kazim Ali was born in London, England, lived as a child in the cities and small towns of Manitoba, and made a life in the United States. As a queer, Muslim man passing through disparate homes, he has never felt he belonged to a place. And yet, one day, the celebrated poet and essayist finds himself thinking of the boreal forests and lush waterways of Jenpeg. After 40 years away from the place, Kazim returned to Jenpeg where he lived as a child while his father worked on Manitoba Hydro's Jenpeg Generating Station. Kazim's return visit after those 40 some years away is documented in his book, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. The book is beautiful – layered and insightful, part memoir, part history, part journalism and at the heart of it is the history of the dam and a history of broken promises to the Pimicikamak Cree of Cross Lake and the dam's environmental toll on the land and the people. LINKS Kazim Ali's Wikipedia Page His book, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. ATPN's report on the Jenpeg Dam Generating Station and its impact on the Pimicikamak People Map of Cross Lake, Manitoba and area Cullah Music --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/roy-mitchell5/message
Acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist Kazim Ali joins the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and Milkweed Editions to launch his new memoir, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water. Northern Light, a sensitive and elegantly structured exploration of land and power, is told through Ali’s recollections of his childhood in Manitoba, and the relationships he built with the indigenous Pimicikamak community, his former neighbors and fierce environmental activists. Ali is joined in conversation by poet and scholar Billy-Ray Belcourt.
Jenn and guest Kim Ukura discuss lots of nonfiction, including kid-friendly science audiobooks and body-positive memoirs, in this week’s episode of Get Booked. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. This post contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Book Riot may earn a commission. Questions 1. I have been listening to science audio books with my son (7yo) who has really been enjoying them. So far we have listened to the Future of Humanity by Michio Kaku, Astrophysics For Young People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and we are currently listening to The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Anything else you can recommend? All the bonus points if it deals with robots, space, or is any way speculative. Thanks! -Riad 2. Hello. I promise this isn’t just a word problem in disguise, although it sort of feels that way! I used to have a very long commute to work (over an hour each way), which I made more bearable by listening to non-fiction audiobooks. I now have a much, much shorter commute but miss listening to audiobooks. I use my local library’s app, which allows audiobooks to be checked out for two weeks. Since I’m listening for less than an hour a day, I often can’t finish the books that I borrow in time. Can you recommend some great non-fiction that is around 10 hours long? I really enjoy Oliver Sachs, Mary Roach, Michael Pollan, Bee Wilson, Bill Bryson, and Brene Brown and have already listened to everything by these authors that is available. My favorite topics are social science, psychology, the natural world, and food/cooking. I generally don’t enjoy celebrity memoirs, self-help, and am firmly disinterested in sports. Thank you so much for all of your awesome weekly recommendations-I’ve discovered so many new favorites because of your podcast! -Brenna 3. Hello! I am writing to you in the hopes that you can point me in the right direction. I was recently surprised when I noticed two books on different topics I was reading started to converge. One book is Bregman’s “Humankind: A Hopeful History” and the other is McGonigal’s “The Joy of Movement”. Despite their apparently dissimilar topics (social psychology and exercise), somehow, these two books converged on the ideas that humans are built for connection and cooperation. And suddenly I know I need more of that. I want more of humans building relationships and working towards common goals. I’ve already read Smith’s “The Power of Meaning” and have Ter Kuile’s “The Power of Ritual” on hold at the library. What else can you recommend? Fiction and non-fiction are both OK. TIA. -Lisa 4. I am 35 years old and single and have recently decided to explore the world of on-line dating…bad idea. No need for details of bad experience but it has created a need in me for a good female powered memoir preferably with focus on body image. I have read a lot of the popular ones already such as the beauty myth, body positive power, the body is not an apology, Men Explain Things to Me, and books by Lindy West, Roxane Gay, Samantha Irby, and Jes Baker. I also just purchased Body Talk and have been reading an essay every morning. Any help with finding a good female strong and feel good book would be greatly appreciated. I love your podcast and thank you!! -Noelle 5. Hi, I always thought I was straight but recently I’ve been feeling more attraction towards women/enbys. I am in a long term relationship with a man whom I love and adore and don’t see that ending anytime soon. Basically, I’m struggling with my sexuality and have no good outlet to explore that now. Books have always been the thing I turn to when I’m trying to process important things. Please recommend adult books (preferably one fiction and one non-fiction) that center on wlw relationships and coming to terms with your sexuality. Bonus points for bi/pan rep or enby rep and bonus points for an older character (not a teen). I love contemporary and literary fiction but would be open to an sff. I have not been loving historical recently. -JJ 6. I’m a Computer Science teacher in Mexico City. I have been teaching high school students about the science behind the magic of technology for about fifteen years. Also, I’m an avid reader and I believe in the power of books in my students’ academic lives. I’m always looking for books about Computer Science or the history of computers to assign them as extra activities for my class (some students prefer reading books instead of coding, and that’s fine with me as long as they learn). Books in English are not a problem since, although we are a Spanish-speaking country, I work at a bilingual school and they understand English perfectly. We have read books like “The Code Book” by Simon Singh, “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage” a beautiful graphic novel by Sydney Padua, “Broad Band” by Claire L. Evans, “The Inevitable” by Kevin Kelly, “The Second Machine Age” by Erik Brynjolfsson, “Code Girls” by Liza Mundy, “Zero Day” by Mark Russinovich, and “Life 3.0” by Max Tegmark. I would love to know if you have any recommendations my students and for me. Of course, there are extra points for books about women in tech and the power of diversity and inclusion, since we all need those messages every single day in our current world. -Rodrigo 7. My mom has begun seeking therapy for chronic depression that I suspect has been with her for a while now. I’m glad she’s seeking professional help, but I also wanted to get her a book to help lift her up a bit. From what she’s confided in me, some of what is contributing to her depression is that a lot of her identity is tied up in feeling needed/useful as a mom. Now that both her daughters are grown, she thinks we don’t need her anymore (entirely untrue, of course) and that she’s not useful as a person. I’m wondering if there are any books out there about older women finding renewed sense of self or dealing with similar issues that she can see herself in. I’m hoping for something uplifting. She also has triggers around harm to children and sexual violence, so if those topics could be avoided, that would be great. Thanks! -Worried Daughter Books Discussed Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (Gulp, Spook, or Grunt) Scatter, Adapt, and Remember by Annalee Newitz Make it Scream, Make it Burn by Leslie Jamison (9 hours 3 minutes) Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars by Kate Greene (6 hrs 7 min) How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong Northern Light by Kazim Ali (cw: discussion of suicide) Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen #VeryFat #VeryBrave by Nicole Byer The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change by Ellen Pao Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb Book Club When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams, (cw: attempted assault) 10 Mystery and Thriller Books Starring Older Women Books With Female Protagonists Over 60 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kazim Ali is a writer based in San Diego, CA. Kazim’s latest poetry collection, The Voice of Sheila Chandra, uses sound to explode meaning and explore silence and voicelessness, bringing together history, philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience to create something truly profound. In our conversation, Kazim and I discussed the divine in art, what the sound of poetry can embody and enact, and the fundamental oneness of human life. Then for the second segment, we talked about music. (Conversation recorded December 17, 2020.) Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RadioPublic | Stitcher | Spotify | TuneIn | RSS Support: Support our Patreon | Review on Apple Podcasts | Review on Podchaser Share: Tweet this episode | Share to Facebook Connect: Newsletter | Email | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube Show Notes: Kazim Ali Purchase The Voice of Sheila Chandra Pre-order Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water Upcoming virtual events with Kazim Ali PoetryNow - “Know No Name” What’s Love Got to Do With It Sheila Chandra Orpheus and Eurydice Alcestis Asian American Writers’ Workshop - The Voice of Sheila Chandra with Kazim Ali, Sheila Chandra, and Rajiv Mohabir The Frost Place Ellen Bryant Voigt Prakriti Festival Kazim Ali - The Far Mosque Cyndi Lauper - At Last Alice Coltrane Qawwali Amjad Sabri Abida Parveen Kirtan Krishna Das Kazim Ali - Bright Felon Keep the Channel Open - Julia Dixon Evans Honorée Fanonne Jeffers Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - The Age of Phillis Phillis Wheatley Transcript Episode Credits Editing/Mixing: Mike Sakasegawa Music: Podington Bear Transcription: Shea Aguinaldo
We're celebrating the launch of Kazim Ali’s newest poetry collection, The Voice of Sheila Chandra. Following a reading from Ali’s innovative and musical new collection, he will be joined in conversation by Sheila Chandra and Rajiv Mohabir to discuss sound, silence, and embodied art-making practice, as they reflect on Ali’s poetry, Chandra’s music, and Mohabir’s poetry and translation. Support the writers!
Titled for the influential singer left almost voiceless by a terrible syndrome, The Voice of Sheila Chandra brings sweet melodies and rhythms as the voices blend and become multitudinous. There's an honoring of not only survival, but of persistence, as this part research-based, pensive collection contemplates what it takes to move forward when the unimaginable holds you back. Author Kazim Ali is in conversation with fellow poet Kiki Petrosino. ________________________________________________ Produced by Maddie Gobbo & Michael Kowaleski Theme: "I Love All My Friends," a new, unreleased demo by Fragile Gang. Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.
Ramadan By Kazim Ali
This lecture will consider memoirs and essays written about events that are still unfolding. How can you tell a story when you don't know how it will end? How can you write about yourself when your relationship to time, memory, language, the body, and the self are changing? We'll discuss memoirs from the middle of things by authors such as Laura Hillenbrand, Caren Beilin, Audre Lorde, Jean-Luc Nancy, Kazim Ali, Lily Hoang, and others. We'll ask how close attention to thresholds, brinks, and passing moments can lead to lasting discoveries.
Kazim Ali focuses on the way attention to sound can open a spiritual dimension in poetry. Produced by Katie Klocksin.
In this lecture, we’ll consider some recent poems in which gratitude emerges from or exists alongside difficult experiences. How do moments of acute gratitude interact with loss, grief, memory, and ongoing complexity? What are some ways in which a poem can break into thanks, however briefly? Perhaps poetry of gratitude goes beyond “finding a silver lining;” perhaps it offers an ethics of reflection that, through ways of speaking that become ways of being, intricately connects a poem to culture and community. We’ll discuss work by poets such as Kazim Ali, Ross Gay, Lauren Haldeman, Carl Phillips, Juliana Spahr, and others, as we think closely about what it means for a poem to say thank you.
Join us for an evening with authors from Kaya Press, the group of dedicated writers, artists, readers, and lovers of books working together to publish the most challenging, thoughtful, and provocative literature being produced throughout the Asian and Pacific Island diasporas, with special guest Abeer Hoque. The Secret Room In Kazim Ali's wildly inventive novel The Secret Room, written as musical score for a string quartet, he asks: How does one create a life of meaning in the face of loneliness and alienation from one’s own family, culture, or even sense of self? During the space of one single day, the lives of four people converge and diverge in ways they themselves may not even measure. Sonia Chang, a violinist prepares for a concert. Rizwan Syed, a yoga teacher who gives so much to others, makes one last panicked attempt at reconciliation with his own family. Jody Merchant tries to balance a difficult and stressful work-life with a dream she abandoned long ago. Pratap Patel trudges through his life trying to ignore the pain he still feels at old losses. Just like the real musical quality of a string quartet, these four characters weave in and out of one another's experiences in a raw, fluid song that mimics the hidden lives that exist within us all. Praise for Kazim Ali “Here are new organizing principles; to allow ourselves to be organized by music; to be scored. This is a text that suggests not to worry about how to read it. Rather, it extends an invitation to allow the text to happen with us (and/or for us to happen with the text), and this is a Revolutionary Hermeneutics: to open to the experiences of pain and awe. Text as ambient drift we can move through (the same space where healing and magic happens). The way a line divines another, a voice divines a voice, and the emergent conversation, and how this conversation is a hidden music, the music we have been waiting for.”-- Selah Saterstrom, author of Slab and Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics "Kazim Ali has managed to render into the English language the universal inner voice." -- Lucille Clifton Kazim Ali's books include five volumes of poetry, The Far Mosque, The Fortieth Day, Bright Felon, Sky Ward, and All One’s Blue: New and Selected Poems; three novels, Quinn’s Passage, The Disappearance of Seth and Wind Instrument; a collection of short stories, Uncle Sharif’s Life in Music, and three collections of essays, Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence, Fasting for Ramadan and Resident Alien: On Border-crossing and the Undocumented Divine. He has translated books by Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi and Marguerite Duras. He is an associate professor of Comparative Literature and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Oberlin College. The Flayed City Hari Alluri is an author who, according to U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, “carries a new, quiet brush of multi-currents, of multi-worlds to paint this holographic life-scape.” In The Flayed City, Alluri gives an intimate look into the lives of city dwellers and immigrants, imagining the souls that reside in “broom-filled nights”, “skyscrapers for buoys”, and under an “aluminum rising sun”. The charged poems in The Flayed City sweep together “an archipelago song” scored by memory and landscape, history and mythology, desire and loss. Driven by what is residual—of displacement, of family, of violent yet delicate masculinity, of undervalued yet imperative work—Alluri's lines quiver with the poet's distinctive rendering of praise and lament steeped with “gravity and blood” where “the smell of ants being born surrounds us” and “city lights form constellations // invented to symbolize war.” Praise for Hari Alluri “Hari Alluri is Michaux for our time. Which is to say: he is the poet who is able to find myth in our days of sorrow and displacement, when so many lose homes and identities, Hari Alluri offers a new music. When cities are destroyed by fire, Hari Alluri offers lyric fire that heals the heart, that lets theimagination save us. When there is nothing left to say and the page of our drive to stop the pain is brightly-lit and blank, Hari Alluri brings a few words that sing, brings them by the hand, gives them to us—not just words but images, sparks, from which the fire comes, from which whole villages are alive again. This is the poet to live with."-- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Dancing in Odessa [Hari Alluri] carries a new, quiet brush of multi-currents, of multi-worlds to paint this holographic life-scape; a most rare set of poems—with jazz beat word lines, long-line wisdom and open space scenes where you can widen your eyes, scrape your hands and rush into colliding worlds. Bravo, many bravos!” Hari Alluri, who immigrated to Vancouver, Coast Salish territories at age twelve, is the author of Carving Ashes (CiCAC, 2013) and The Promise of Rust (Mouthfeel, 2016). An award-winning poet, educator, and teaching artist, his work appears widely in anthologies, journals and online venues, including Chautauqua, Poemeleon and Split This Rock. He is a founding editor at Locked Horn Press, where he has co-edited two anthologies, Gendered & Written: Forums on Poetics andRead America(s): An Anthology. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State University and, along with the Federico Moramarco Poetry International Teaching Prize, he has received VONA/Voices and Las Dos Brujas fellowships and a National Film Board of Canada grant. Hari currently serves as editor of pacific Review in San Diego, Kumeyaay land. Photo by Cynthia Dewi Oka Olive Witch (Harper 360) In the 1970s, Nigeria is flush with oil money, building new universities, and hanging on to old colonial habits. Abeer Hoque is a Bangladeshi girl growing up in a small sunlit university town where the red clay earth, corporal punishment and running games are facts of life. At thirteen she moves with her family to suburban Pittsburgh and finds herself surrounded by clouded skies and high schoolers who speak in movie quotes and pop culture slang. Finding her place as a young woman in America proves more difficult than she can imagine. Disassociated from her parents and laid low by academic pressure and a spiraling depression, she is committed to a psychiatric ward in Philadelphia. When she moves to Bangladesh on her own, it proves yet another beginning for someone who is only just getting used to being an outsider – wherever she is. Arresting and beautifully written, with poems and weather conditions framing each chapter, Olive Witch is an intimate memoir about taking the long way home. Praise for Abeer Y. Hoque “Told with vivid lyricism yet unflinching in its gaze, Abeer Hoque's memoir is the coming-of-age story of migration on three continents, and about the pain, rupture, and redemptive possibilities of displacement.” --Tahmima Anam, author of The Bones of Grace "An unflinching yet luminously beautiful take on family, race, sex and the treachery of memory. Don’t be fooled by the frangipani beauty of Abeer Hoque’s prose. Its razor-sharp edges can draw blood."--Sandip Roy, author of Don't Let Him Know Abeer Y. Hoque is a Bangladeshi-American writer and photographer. Her first book of fiction, The Lovers and the Leavers, was published by HarperCollins to critical acclaim. She also has a book of travel photographs and poems, The Long Way Home. She lives in New York City.
What began as an offsite event for the 2017 AWP conference in Washington D.C. became a rallying point on Saturday, February 11th for over a thousand writers at Lafayette Park, across from the street from The White House. In today’s show you will hear from poets and writers Kazim Ali, Gabrielle Bellot, Melissa Febos, Carolyn Forché, Sanaz Fotouhi, Ross Gay, Luis J. Rodriguez, and Eric Sasson with minimal edits for time and program continuity. Prior to the Vigil, Citizen Lit sat down with one of the event organizers, Split This Rock executive director Sarah Browning, to talk about importance and impact of such public gatherings. Note: transcriptions for each speaker are available on Split This Rock's blog: http://blogthisrock.blogspot.com/search/label/candlelight%20vigil
AWP 2016 (the conference for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs) in Los Angeles was la-la lovely. Marion and I flew out together, for the first time in all of these years of traveling to different cities. Our first bit of business? We discussed what our podcast from AWP would be about. Literary Death Match? Could we ever have an experience close to the awesomeness of Mark Doty in Chicago? Tony Hoagland in Boston? Abraham Smith in Seattle? How about Chris Abani, Susan Orlean, Danez Smith, and Kirsten Valdez Quade in L.A.? And since it’s LA, let’s throw in some celebrities like, I dunno, Martin Starr, Lena Waithe, Michaela Watkins, and Zach Woods. The Stars at the Literary Death Match Sure, hot enough, but basically, we wanted to sit back and enjoy the show, and then immediately have umbrella drinks on the rooftop, so…what else could we talk about? How crowded it was? Negative and boring. How expensive it was? Negative and boring. AWP Ladies and Gentlemen! Should we interview our Uber drivers? Not a bad idea. But, when we thought just that much longer, probably about when we were flying over Wyoming, we thought about the AWP conference and everyone’s expectations, how overwhelming it can be to have so many choices, how undone one can become even when all of those choices are great, we thought about the bookfair. We thought about how much we enjoy “camping out” at the bookfair, letting the attendees and our far-flung friends come to us, doing laps ourselves when we need to stretch. Yes. We’d hang out and the boofair and talk to people about… Writing. What else? Tune in and hear what people are working on when they’re not swimming in the riches of the AWP conference. John-Michael Peter Bloomquis, the founder and director of Poetry for Trash talked to us about his organization. Poetry for Trash goes to public parks and forests, installing stations where passerby can read a poem. The reader decides how much trash the poem is worth, and places the litter they find inside a trash bag. Poetry really is making the world a better place! Tell us what you think about AWP (and anything else) on our Facebook event page. Sign up for our email list if you’re in the area and even if you’re not! Follow us on Twitter @PaintedBrideQ and Instagram @paintedbridequarterly. Read on! -KVM Kathy Graber and Kazim Ali
Oberlin College professor and poet Kazim Ali reads his poems and talks about his work an a poet with BNAziz; In Syria BNAziz interviews Damascus-based radio host Nidaa Hussein about her work in Syrian radio (starting @ 39:32) in Arabic with English translation; Women in Islam president Sarah Sayeed and Farhana Kheria of Muslim Advocates announce the forthcoming Dr. Betty Shabazz award sponsored by WII in NYC.
Literary discussion featuring readings by poets Raza Ali Hasan, Ibtisam Barakat, Fady Joudah, Kazim Ali, and Khaled Mattawa.
Literary discussion featuring readings by poets Raza Ali Hasan, Ibtisam Barakat, Fady Joudah, Kazim Ali, and Khaled Mattawa.
SAJA presents a webcast on Wednesday about contemporary South Asian poetry, from the Diaspora and around the world. Join acclaimed poets and editors Ravi Shankar, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Patrick Rosal, Carolyne Wright, Kazim Ali and literary agent Sarah Jane Freymann to discuss the conception and shaping of the extraordinary anthology, "Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East and Beyond." Hailed by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer as "a beautiful achievement for world literature," two of the co-editors will discuss the project with their agent and a contributor. The collection includes poets from 61 different countries writing in over 40 different languages and include poets such as Vikram Seth, Taslima Nasrin, Michael Ondaatje, Meena Alexander, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Jeet Thayil. Please join us with your questions and comments.