"Saah" with Haleh Liza Gafori, Fatima Rahmati, Shahzad Ismaily & Syd Fini

Poetry, spoken-word, music and art with Haleh Liza Gafori and Fatima Rahmati and launch of a new graphic novel by Syd Fini -- Saah. Additional music performance by Shahzad Ismaily and Haleh Liza Gafori.

Haleh Liza Gafori is a poet, translator, and musician born in NYC of Persian descent. Her book Gold, translations of poems by the 13th century mystic Rumi, is forthcoming on New York Review Books/NYRB Classics on March 8, 2022.

““Haleh Liza Gafori’s Gold is everything Rumi was himself—sacred, profane, laugh out loud funny, deeply earnest, demotic, and yes, Persian. There’s a rich fluency here not just in idiom but in gesture, in spirit. It’s uncanny to encounter eight-hundred-year-old verse this urgent: “Misers rule. Generosity fades from memory. Still, your eyes see. Your heart is full.” Gafori’s Rumi teaches me how to wander into mystery—“humble as soil”—without galloping toward some hasty and inorganic conclusion: “A barren moon shines. A sour world smiles. What do I know but the light shining down?” What a gift this is, what gold.”

—Kaveh Akbar (Poetry Editor at The Nation, Author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell)

“Haleh Liza Gafori’s ecstatic and piercing translation has lifted a veil, bringing Rumi closer into the quick of our present. Each poem is a divine invitation.” —V (formerly Eve Ensler)

Fatima Rahmati was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and at the age of four, she and her family fled as refugees from Afghanistan to Australia. Fatima traces back her experiences of being raised in the projects of Australia and her father’s legacy of educator and social activist as the path which paved her way to advocacy and activism. Moving to New York City 17 years ago, Fatima found herself naturally gravitating towards working on social justice issues. Since her arrival to New York, she has been no stranger to advocacy; working with organizations such as IRAP; the International Refugee Assistance Project, Afghan Hands; a non-profit organization aiming to teach skills to help widows gain independence, literacy and livable wages. And Women for Afghan Women (WAW); a grassroots civil society organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of disenfranchised Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan and New York. When deciding on how to best serve her father’s legacy and her own passions, Fatima decided a school bearing his name in the country he loved would be fitting."

SAAH is an augmented reality graphic novel by Syd Fini about a brave boy who speaks for the innocent in a war ravaged city in the Middle East. He weaves through the rubble and bombard streets to confront a ruthless sniper randomly targeting the city’s birds. Scan the pages with the augmented reality app and see the book come to life. Foreword by renowned scholar and writer Reza Aslan. Learn more at https://www.bravekids.me/saah

“Saah” is supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of New York State Governor and the New York State Legislature. Please note that we are following the guidelines and requirements set forth by the City of New York. So, everyone needs to be vaccinated, present proof of vaccination, wear a mask, and social distance. Additionally, we are only accepting limited seating through our private eventbrite ticketing link. We cannot allow random walk-ins, and everyone needs to register beforehand.