Yahia Lababidi's Blog

PEN USA President calls my new book, Palestine Wail, "Required reading at this terrible moment"

Yahia Lababidi | The PEN Ten Interview
By: Kori Davis | August 15, 2024

Distance isn’t afforded to the reader in Yahia Lababidi’s Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024). These poems are an unflinching look at the pain and wounds afflicting the Palestinian diaspora caused by the Israel-Hamas war and the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government. These poems aren’t meant to condemn but examine a broken time where we are indifferent to one another’s pain and fail to see how that pain affects us as a collective. It is only then that these poems begin to dress the wounds.

In conversation with PEN America Membership’s Kori Davis for this week’s PEN Ten, Yahia Lababidi shares his personal insights as an Arab-American of Palestinian background, the censorship he faced for using the term ‘genocide’ in Palestine Wail, and describes his philosophy on the interconnectedness of the human race.

https://pen.org/yahia-lababidi-the-pe...

Radical Love Letters to Israel & USA College Protesters

I had the good fortune to participate in a Political/Philosophic Discussion of the Student Movement and the Crisis in Gaza

Here's a short reading of a few poems from my forthcoming book, PALESTINE WAIL:

https://youtu.be/zZeEcr0OD4U?si=qLGX9...

Poems for Gaza, Palestine

As a poet of Palestinian background, I am devastated by the news: 30,000 Palestinians murdered, 2/3 of whom are women and children, 85% of the population displaced. 70% of homes destroyed.

Here are poems for Gaza, from my forthcoming book, Palestine Wail:

https://dawnmena.org/during-a-genocid...

Israeli—Palestinian Peace

As a poet of Palestinian background, these past two months I have been trying to write myself sane & post Voices of Peace (from both sides) on my YouTube channel.

Please, check out my short videos & share them with those you know who might benefit from messages of hope/healing:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaC...

Happy Birthday, Rumi

Here's a short poetry reading I did in honor of the great poet & mystic's birthday, today:

https://youtube.com/shorts/dBRdkB6WVj...

An Introduction to Rumi & Mystical Persian Poetry

This is an accessible introduction to Sufi poetry and philosophy: featuring the works of Sanai, Attar, Rumi, Saadi and Hafiz:

https://youtube.com/shorts/h0SRsojsNy...

Translations are by Coleman Barks and the book is presented through 5 lectures on Persian poetry given by Inayat Khan in 1923.

Please, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for more Books That Saved My Life & Quotes to Live By. Thank you.

Books That Saved My Life

Hello, Fellow Readers :)

I'm launching a new series of short videos on YouTube:

Books That Saved My Life

So far, I've uploaded 3 episodes on Wilde, Nietzsche & Kafka.

Please, join me, for more:

https://youtube.com/@Yahia.Lababidi