MENA Poetry Reading
Join us at Elliott Bay Book Co as six poets from the local MENA (Middle Eastern & North African) community read selections from their own selected work followed by a talkback panel and Q&A session. Featuring Shaudi Bianca Vahdat, Parisa Akhbari, Sahar Fathi, Jamal Gabobe, Raanah Amjadi, Samar Abulhassan.
Registration is not required but helpful for us to anticipate audience size. RSVP here!
Parisa Akhbari is a therapist and writer from Seattle. Her debut novel, Just Another Epic Love Poem, was named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus, Booklist, The New York Public Library, Autostraddle, and Cosmo Magazine. Her writing has also been featured in Teen Vogue and Writer’s Digest. She is an alumna of Hedgebrook’s Writer-in-Residence program and an Artist Trust GAP grant recipient. When not writing or therapizing, she can be found trying to replicate her grandmother’s drool-worthy Persian recipes, riding ferries around the Puget Sound, and dancing around the kitchen with her wife and dogs. @parisawrites on Tiktok and Twitter, @authorparisa on Instagram
The poet, Jamal Gabobe, has a Ph.D in Comparative Literature from the University of Washington. The Path of Difference is his third poetry book. He has published books of poetry titled The Path of Difference, Love and Memory, and an Arabic poetry book called Qalb La Yanam. Jamal's travel essay Termites and Clans was included in the anthology An Ear to the Ground: Presenting Writers from 2 Coasts, published by Cune Press based in Seattle. He was part of the Jackstraw Writers Program and has written on modern Egyptian literature and the Canadian author Margaret Laurence. His article "European Travel Writing on Somaliland: the rhetoric of Empire and the emergence of the Somali subject" was published by Bildhaan Journal at the University of Macalester.
Raanah Amjadi (she/her) is an Iranian American poet and healing facilitator based in Georgetown, Seattle. Her two most enduring loves are writing and performing, and she is grateful to live in a city with such an inclusive and soulful art scene. Raanah creates under the name lili jade—a tribute to her ancestral heritage—and you can learn more about her work and offerings at lilijade.com. @lilijadesea on Instagram.
Sahar Fathi graduated from the University of Washington Law School and is a member of the New York bar. She also earned a Masters in International Studies from the University of Washington, and graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California with a dual Bachelor of Arts in French and International Relations. Her poetry has been printed in Writers Resist, The Jesse Butler Women’s Poetry Contest Anthology (2020), and the Writers Resist: Anthology (2018). It has also been featured in The Halcyone, Other Worldly Women Press, Barzakh Magazine, For Women Who Roar, Platform Review, Fauxmoir, Swimming with Elephants, FEELINGS journal, ARTS by the People, and Not Your Mother’s Breastmilk. Her favorite Persian dish is Fesenjoon, and in 2016 she finally mastered her Tadiq technique. @sfathis on Instagram
Shaudi Bianca Vahdat is a musician, composer, songwriter and theatre artist. Shaudi holds a Master of Music in Contemporary Performance from Berklee College of Music and a B.A. in Drama Performance from the University of Washington Seattle. She has performed and/or composed for organizations like Washington Ensemble Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, The Bushwick Book Club, and Seattle Arts & Lectures. Shaudi was a 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Inscape Arts and will present her original musical theatre work, The Golden Door: an American immigrant song cycle, in Spring 2025 at Seattle Center as part of the Artists at the Center program, with an additional co-production presented by Seattle Open Arts Place from July 18–20. Find Shaudi’s music on streaming services and at shaudibiancavahdat.com. @shaudibianca on Instagram.