Join us for a night of poetry, healing, and conversation with Sham-e-Ali Nayeem.
What happens when we lose our anchor? In her debut book City of Pearls, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem writes poetry to offer a meditation on healing from grief. Weaving together memories of her late father and ancestral home of Hyderabad, Nayeem explores the landscapes of loss. Nayeem, an Indian Muslim American, draws from the languages of her life to express vulnerability and tenderness in her poetry: Hyderabad—the City of Pearls—become a metaphor for resilience and growth to transform the grit of migration, displacement and loss.
Nayeem will be joined in conversation with spoken word poet Bao Phi.
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About the Artists:
Author of the poetry collection, City of Pearls (UpSet Press 2019), Sham-e-Ali Nayeem is a Muslim Indian American poet and artist of Hyderabadi descent. A former public interest lawyer supporting economic justice for survivors of family and intimate partner violence, Sham-e-Ali is recipient of the Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship.
Photo Credit: Anrong Xu
Bao Phi is a spoken word artist, poet, author, children's book writer, arts administrator, and father.
Chinatown Presents is funded is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.
Directions: The Pao Arts Center is located in the One Greenway building, 99 Kneeland Street. For GPS driving directions, use 66 Hudson Street, Boston, MA 02111. From Hudson Street, walk up the stairs and across the deck to the 99 Albany Street entrance. The public parking garage entrance is on Hudson Street. The Pao Arts Center is accessible by the MBTA Green, Red, and Orange lines.
Contact: Cynthia Woo | 617-863-9080