By Danielle Bettendorf Staff writer
Poet Kazim Ali performed a reading of his works at Susquehanna on Oct. 11 in Isaacs Auditorium.
Ali read from his autobiography “Bright Felon,” his book “Fasting for Ramadan,” his poetry collection “Sky Ward” and miscellaneous poetry, including some newer works that Ali had been working on.
“The range of Ali’s work is distinctive,” said Glen Retief, director of the Writers Institute.
“I’m not sure if we have another author coming this year whose range is as wide in terms of the different types: he’s written everything from very innovative experimental short stories, to traditional poetry, to memoirs composed of poetry and reflections. There’s a huge range of work,” Retief continued.
Ali’s works covered a range of topics, from writing inspired by the past summer’s shooting in Orlando to analogies using the Greek myth of Icarus.
“Ali’s themes are very interesting and unique,” Retief said. “He’s very interested in spirituality; his book ‘Fasting for Ramadan’ is about both Islamic spiritual practice and yoga, and the overlaps.”
“He’s interested in the ethics of food,” Retief continued. “So he writes about being semi-vegan. He writes about food and environment. He writes about race and culture, so I think his themes are very distinctive.”
Audience members noted Ali’s ease in front of a crowd and his willingness to deviate from what he planned to read.
“He was surprisingly friendly and funny on stage, like he wasn’t being too formal about it,” sophomore Hayli McClain said. “I really liked how he took requests, because I thought he had a total right to just read what he wanted to, or what he felt best about.”
“He opened up to requests and even read a poem that he didn’t want to read and that he said he didn’t want to read and didn’t feel good about. I thought he was really impressive and likeable,” McClain added.
“I thought he was really interesting and he was really engaging when he read his work aloud,” sophomore Rachel Pietrewicz said. “I thought he captured the crowd really well and had really great interactions with the audience.”
Additionally, Ali spent time visiting different English and creative writing classes during his visit.
“Kazim offered a new perspective on what it means to take on a nonfiction project,” junior Alexis Bishop said. “I appreciated his experimental techniques to open up his writing and his concern for the people’s stories he was writing about.”
Ali answered the questions students had, according to junior Jennifer Ghiorse.
“He was so engaged with the students’ questions and the advice he gave at times went against waht we’ve learned here at school,” Ghiorse said.
“He reminded us that nothing about writing is set in stone. That’s the whole point. To create something new,” she added.
Ali is the first author of the Visiting Writers Series to come to Susquehanna this year, as Israeli writer Etgar Keret, who was scheduled to visit in September, was in a car accident prior to his visit.
According to Retief, many faculty members were familiar with Ali before his visit, but he also fit other characteristics the faculty was looking for.
“For the Visiting Writers Series we aim for diversity of authors when it comes to all the usual demographic factors: race, gender, cultural background, religion, stage of career,” Retief said.
According to Retief, the institute also looks for writers who will be available to mentor students, regardless of the genre they write in.
“Ali, we thought, helped us in all of those respects,” said Retief. “He is a very accomplished poet [and] terrific essayist—he has a book of essays about fasting for Ramadan, so there’s an interesting educational component there about Indo-Muslim culture—but he can visit classes in all three genres that we teach here and mentor students across those genres.”
In addition to learning from Ali’s mentorship, Retief noted that creative writing students who have read Ali’s work in class could also learn from his writing.
“I hope that [students] fall in love with his language,” Retief said. “I think Ali has a way of applying a beautiful turn of phrase with his rich images.”
“I hope that students are intellectually provoked by his ideas,” he continued. “I hope that students are dazzled by his form of innovation: the way he invents whole new ways of writing short stories, autobiographies [and] poetry.”