Yahya Ashour in conversation with Huda Fakhreddine

Please join La La Lil Jidar at Studio34 for an evening of poetry with Palestinian acclaimed poet from Gaza, Yahya Ashour in conversation with writer, translator, and Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, Huda J. Fakhreddine. This event is co-sponsored by Mizna.

Opening reading with local Palestinian student activist, creative writer, and artist - Nada Abuasi.

ABOUT YAHYA ASHOUR

Yahya Ashour, born in Gaza City on April 22nd, 1998, is a touring poet and awarded author. In 2022, he became a fellow in writing at the University of Iowa. His recent poetry e-book, titled “A Gaza of Siege & Genocide,” was published by Mizna in March 2024. Ashour has also authored a poetry collection and a children's book in Arabic, along with contributing to numerous printed anthologies and online journals worldwide. His works have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Portuguese, Japanese, Norwegian, and Bengali. Ashour has conducted numerous creative writing workshops for children and youth in Gaza. Since October 2023, he has presented his poetry and talked about Gaza at several organizations and approximately 30 universities across the United States, including prestigious institutions such as Princeton, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Columbia, Cornell, University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, and University of Michigan.

Get Yahya's New E-Book Today!

Gazan poet and Mizna Fellow Yahya Ashour shares a special electronic book of excerpted verses from poetry he has written while in exile accompanied by his own illustrations.

In solidarity with Ashour’s nineteen family members who must escape the dire situation in Gaza, Mizna is supporting Yahya Ashour to fund their evacuation through the sale of this e-book.

The price for the book is $25, however we strongly encourage those who are able to give much, much more—to be as generous as possible. All funds from the sale of will go directly to assist his family’s escape to Egypt.

Once you have paid, you will receive an email with a special link to the electronic book. Please do not share with anyone, but rather encourage others to buy the book themselves, thereby amplifying the support of the Ashour family.

About Huda J. Fakhreddine

Huda J. Fakhreddine is a writer, translator, and Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Metapoesis in the Arabic Tradition (Brill, 2015) and The Arabic Prose Poem: Poetic Theory and Practice (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), and the co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Poetry (Routledge, 2023). Her book of creative non-fiction titled Zaman saghīr taḥt shams thāniya (A Brief Time under a Different Sun) was published by Dar al-Nahda, Beirut in 2019. She is co-editor of Middle Eastern Literatures and an editor of the Library of Arabic Literature.

About Nada Abuasi

Nada is a Palestinian creative writer, artist, and poet. She is a master's student in Communications, Culture, and Media.

About Mizna

Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than twenty years, we have been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of our community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.

Named City Page’s Nonprofit of the Year in 2020 and a Regional Cultural Treasure in 2021, we publish Mizna, an award-winning SWANA lit and art journal; produce the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, the largest and longest running Arab film fest in the Midwest; and offer classes, readings, performances, public art, and community events, having featured over 400 local and global writers, filmmakers, and artists.

https://mizna.org/

About Studio34

Accessibility note: there is a steep flight of stairs leading up to our space.

STORY

Since 2008, Studio 34 has cultivated a community; it has offered affordable yoga classes, workshops, and art shows for those who seek healing, as well as space for wellness practitioners to provide various forms of therapy, from acupuncture to massage to psychotherapy & more.

In early 2018, community members Adrienne Dolberry and Kari Thompson took over as owners and remain committed to Studio 34 being a space of healing, creativity, and inclusivity for the West Philadelphia community and beyond.

MISSION

Studio 34 is more than a physical space.

We are an energy created by all those that enter and practice here.

This energetic space respects and honors all bodies – encouraging EveryBody/everyone to breathe and move in our healing-centered studio.

Using self-care and expression through yoga, movement, art and other healing modalities – we allow ourselves to reconnect, realign and reclaim our lives as individuals.

We believe that individual self-care directly sustains and supports our community.

We are united together in dialogue, creativity, fun, empowerment and holistic well-being.

https://studio34yoga.com/

Host or Publisher La La Lil Jidar