On Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m., New York University’s Creative Writing Program will celebrate the poetry of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (who will not be present) at the Agha Shahid Ali Memorial Reading.
Breyten Breytenbach, Carolyn Forché, Marilyn Hacker, Elias Khoury, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, and Jeffrey Sacks will read from Darwish’s work; and Shahid’s brother Agha Iqbal Ali will also read two poems by Darwish. The event, which takes place at NYU’s Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge, 40 Washington Square South, coincides with the publication of Darwish’s new book of poems in English translation, Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone? (trans. Jeffrey Sacks), by Archipelago Books. The reading is free and open to the public; for further information call 212.998.8816.
The Agha Shahid Ali Memorial Reading is an annual event held in memory of the late Kashmiri-American poet who taught at NYU before his death in 2001. This reading is an affiliate of the 2006 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature.
The next reading in the NYU Creative Writing Program Spring Series is on April 28 and features graduating MFA students reading from their work.
The NYU Creative Writing Program, with permanent faculty members E.L. Doctorow, Paule Marshall, Breyten Breytenbach, Philip Levine, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Sharon Olds, has distinguished itself for over three decades as a leading national center for the study of literature and writing. The Creative Writing Program Director is Melissa Hammerle. The Reading Series, sponsored in cooperation with the NYU Book Centers and the Fales Collection at NYU, is a vital component of the Writing Program, bringing both established and new writers to NYU.
The NYU Creative Writing Program Reading Series is made possible by generous support from the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, established in The New York Community Trust by the founders of the Reader’s Digest Association. Additional support is provided by Robert E. Holmes.