A Night of Ghazals: Tony Barnstone, Bilal Shaw, and friends

Beyond Baroque welcomes you to celebrate the Urdu to English translation of two new books at A Night of Ghazals! Translators Bilal Shaw and Tony Barnstone have devoted time, energy, and passion to ensuring that the poems of Mir Taqi Mir (1723-1810) and Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (1797-1869), will be enjoyed by a wider array of readers across the world. 

A ghazal is the premier short form of poetry in the Middle East and South Asia. Though the origins of this art come from across the world, you may feel its familiarity, comfort, and nostalgia, as the American blues and the ghazal share a number of key thematic and structural elements. Shaw’s translation of The Plague of Love: Selected Sufi Love Poems of Mir Taqi Mir  has been described as “witty, rhetorically complex,” and a humorous reimagination of a classic text. Faces Hidden in the Dust: Selected Ghazals of Ghalib Bilal and Shaw offer a unique look into the life of Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan, also known by pen names Asad (“lion”) and Ghalib (“superior”), and his poems blend multiple lived experiences of being Hindustani, Arabic, and Persian.

In addition to featured poems in translation, several L.A. based poets will also be sharing their own original ghazals, including Anthony Lee, Scott Noon Creley, Terry  Wolverton, Sarah Maclay, Yvonne Estrada, and Douglas Manuel.

Book signing & reception to follow after the readings. 

Doors Open: 7:30 PM  I  Readings: 8:00 PM 

Tony Barnstone teaches at Whittier College and is the author of 23 books and a music CD. His new book of poems is Apocryphal Poems (Nirala Press, 2024). His other books of poetry include Pulp Sonnets; Beast in the Apartment; Buda en Llamas: Antología poética(bilingual); Tongue of War: From Pearl Harbor to Nagasaki; The Golem of Los Angeles; Sad Jazz: Sonnets; and Impure. He is also a translator or co-translator of world literature, primarily Chinese but also Spanish and Urdu. Among his awards are: The Poets Prize, the Strokestown International Prize, the Pushcart Prize in Poetry, The John Ciardi Prize, The Benjamin Saltman Award, and fellowships from the NEA, NEH, and California Arts Council. He has also co-edited the anthologies Republic of Apples, Democracy of Oranges: New Eco-Poetry from China and the United States; Dead and Undead Poems; and Monster Verse. His new publications are a co-translation from the Urdu, Faces Hidden in the Dust: Selected Ghazals of Ghalib and a creativity tool, The Radiant Tarot: Pathway to Creativity. His forthcoming book is the critical study titled William Carlos Williams and Technological Modernism. He is currently working on a libretto for an opera. His website is https://www.whittier.edu/academics/english/barnstone.

Bilal Shaw is an American scientist who completed his Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies from the University of Southern California in Quantum Information Science. He studied mathematics at Whittier College, California. In the past he has worked on DNA-base

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