New Moons Anthology: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims, edited by Kazim Ali

If you plan to join us in-store, we will be taking COVID precautions - masks will be required for the duration of the program and seating will be spaced accordingly. We will be simultaneously live Zooming our events for those out of town or who would prefer it. You can register to watch it  here on Zoom.

Pre-order signed copies of New Moons Anthology from CW. Book publishes November 2.

From the Introduction: “The goal with this anthology is to represent that full range of contemporary expressions of Islam, as well as a full range of genres—poetry, fiction, essay, memoir, political writing, cultural writing, and of course plenty of texts which mix and match and blur all of these modes . . . the trajectories between the pieces—like that of kismet—will be multiple, nonlinear, abstract. The Muslim community is plural and contradictory. This collection of voices ought to be symphony and cacophony at once, like the body of Muslims as they are today.”—Kazim Ali

About the Featured Contributors

Editor, Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including the volumes of poetry The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Alice James Books, 2020), Inquisition (Wesleyan University Press, 2018) All One’s Blue (HarperCollins India, 2016) Sky Ward (Wesleyan University Press, 2012) winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Poetry; The Fortieth Day (BOA Editions, 2008); The Far Mosque (Alice James Books, 2005) winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award; and the cross-genre texts Bright Felon (Wesleyan University Press, 2009) and Wind Instrument (Spork Press, 2014). His most recent book is Northern Light: Power, Land and the Memory of Water (Milkweed Editions, 2021), which Literary Hub called “A balm for the soul." His novels include The Secret Room: A String Quartet (Kaya Press, 2017) and among his books of essays are the hybrid memoir Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies (Tupelo Press, 2018) and Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice (Tupelo Press, 2011). He is also an accomplished translator of Marguerite Duras, Sohrab Sepehri, Ananda Devi, Mahmoud Chokrollahi and others, and an editor of several anthologies and books of criticism.

Fatima van Hattum is completing her PhD at the University of New Mexico in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies and works as a Program Director at New Mexico’s statewide women’s foundation. Her writing has appeared in CALYX Journal, apt, Intersections, Chicana/Latina Studies, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, and New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims. Fatima is Muslim, lives in Santa Fe, eats most things with chile, and has a large wonderful family and confusing background.

Faisal Mohyuddin is the author of The Displaced Children of Displaced Children and the chapbook The Riddle of Longing. Recently, his work has been featured and published in Poetry, Poet Lore, and The Aleph Review, the Poetry Unbound podcast, and the YouTube series Ours Poetica. He teaches English at Highland Park High School in suburban Chicago and creative writing at the School of Professional Studies at Northwestern University, and he serves as an educator advisor to the global not-for-profit Narrative 4. Also a visual artist, he lives in Oak Park, Illinois.www.faisalmohyuddin.com.

Sham-e-Ali Nayeem is an Indian Muslim American poet, interdisciplinary artist, and recovering public interest lawyer. She is author of the poetry collection, City of Pearls (UpSet Press 2019) and an album by the same name. In addition to poetry and interdisciplinary art, Nayeem releases her work in the form of music and is currently working on her second album of electronic poetic expression.  She is the recipient of the 2016 Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship.

Rabia van Hattum is grateful to be a Muslima living most of her life in the mountains of northern New Mexico. She is an educator, librarian, musician, and artist. Her greatest education has been learning to read the Qur’an, mingling with the human family in many lands of the world, and raising five extraordinary children. She especially thanks Allah every day for her husband, her greatest treasure.