Poet Yahya Ashour to Give Glasgow Endowment Reading at W&L The public reading will take place Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Northen Auditorium.

By Emily Innes
October 21, 2024

Washington and Lee University presents a public reading with exiled Gazan poet Yahya Ashour (يحيى عاشور) on Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the Northen Auditorium inside Leyburn Library.

Ashour’s reading is free and open to the public, and his recent e-book, “A Gaza of Siege & Genocide,” will be available for purchase. “What the World’s Silence Says: An Evening with Gazan Poet Yahya Ashour” is sponsored by the Glasgow Endowment, the Roger Mudd Center for Ethics, W&L’s Department of History and Middle Eastern and South Asia Studies Program, and Mizna (a foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, that supports Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists, and the publisher of Ashour’s e-book).

Ashour’s poetry responds to the current conflict in Gaza and the violence inflicted upon the region in the past year; it has been translated into several languages, including Spanish, French, Japanese and Bengali. He has also authored children’s books in Arabic and contributed to global anthologies and journals, including the Michigan Quarterly Review and ArabLit Quarterly.

“We are pleased to welcome Yahya Ashour to campus,” said Lubabah Chowdhury, assistant professor of English at W&L. “Given the ongoing conflict and violence in Gaza, it is important to shine a light on writers and artists from the region whose family, friends and loved ones are directly affected.”

Only 26 years old, Ashour has received multiple fellowships and honors, including the Arab Children’s Books Publishers Forum Award in 2022, and he was the youngest poet to be featured in the anthology of Palestinian Poetry Today. He is currently an honorary fellow at the University of Iowa. Ashour received his bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Al-Azhar University in Gaza and has worked as a creative writing mentor.