MOCA: Anisfield-Wolf Awards Talk

This special presentation features Eugene Gloria, 2013 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner, and Kazim Ali, published author and associate professor of Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at Oberlin College. Gloria will read excerpts from his prize-winning book My Favorite Warlord, and Ali will read from his most recent book, SKY WARD. After their respective readings, the poets will share the stage to talk with one another and the audience.

Eugene Gloria is the author of three books of poems: My Favorite Warlord(2012), Hoodlum Birds (2006) and Drivers at the Short-Time Motel (2000). In addition to the 2013 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, his honors and awards include a National Poetry Series selection, an Asian American Literary Award, a Fulbright Research Grant, a San Francisco Art Commission grant, a Poetry Society of America award, and a Pushcart Prize. He was appointed the Arts & Sciences Distinguished Visiting Writer at Bowling Green State University for the 2013 spring semester. He teaches creative writing and English literature at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.

Kazim Ali is a poet, essayist, fiction writer and translator. His books include several volumes of poetry, including The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award, The Fortieth Day, and the cross-genre textBright Felon: Autobiography and Cities. His novels include Quinn’s Passage, named one of “The Best Books of 2005” by Chronogram magazine and The Disappearance of Seth. In addition to co-editing Jean Valentine: This-World Company, he is a contributing editor for AWP Writers Chronicle and associate editor of the literary magazine FIELD and founding editor of the small press Nightboat Books.