March 2024

LOS ANGELES REVIEW 2023 POETRY AWARD: WAQAS KHWAJA

losangelesreview.org/lar-2023-poetry-award-waqas-khwaja/?fbclid=IwAR2Iomq0sSkf1X3vGSvZQFqJ0AZL7JYNpSEshnKjix6qawuO57fO6-AxHIs

May 2023

Actividad de Cierre, Romerias de Mayo, Presentacion de los libro: Hold Your Breath, Casa de Iberoamerica, Holguin, Cuba, May 5, 2023

Café Literario, Presentacion de libro: Modern Poetry of Pakistan, UNEAC, Holguin, Cuba, May 4, 2023

Encuentro Literario, Lectura de poesia, Associacion Hermanos Saiz de Trinidad, Cuba, May 7, 2023

Noche de Poesia, reading, La Isla En Versos, Casa de Iberoamerica, Holguin, Cuba, May 4, 2023

Inauguration, La Isla En Versos, poetry reading, Casa de Iberoamerica, Holguin, Cuba, May 3, 2023

Romerias de Mayo, poetry reading, Joachim Osario Carralero Salon, Holguin, Cuba, May 3, 2023

El Primer Verso, reading, La Isla En Versos, Associacion Hermanos Saiz de Ciego de Avila, Cuba, May 1, 2023

October 2022

Ditët e Naimit Literary Career Award, at the XXVI-th Ditët e Naimit Poetry Festival held in Tetova, Macedonia, and Prizren, Kosovo, October, 2022.

“Kughu Kohrray” and “Duke Ndjekur Bulleh Shahun,” Albanian translations of my poems “Kughu Kohrray” and “Following Bulleh Shah,” in Mali e Ka Strehën Në Qiell (“The Sky is Our Last Refuge”), Festivali Ndërkombëtar i Poezisë, Ditët e Naimit, Edicioni XXVI, 2022

Three poetry reading sessions at the XXVI-th Ditët e Naimit Poetry Festival held in Tetova, Macedonia, and Prizren, Kosovo, October 20-23.

September 2022

“Literary Preservation and Innovation: A Conversation with Professor Waqas Khwaja.” RawPods: Creative Thought and Expression (Poetry/Art/Philosophy). Moderator and Host: Muniba Mahmud. Rawanee (rawanee.com), UK. Sept. 11, 2022 — https://podcasts.apple.com/tt/podcast/literary-preservation-and-innovation-a/id1573717456?i=1000598036513

May 2022

“falling from the skies” and “if i were any good,” in Arabic translation by Nizar Sartawi, in Uruk, Iraqi Ministry of Culture, May 30, 2022

“Words Out Loud” Poetry Reading on Zoom, Friday, 7:30 PM, US EST, May 6, 2022, http://wkhwaja.agnesscott.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022_words-out-loud_poetry-reading.jpeg

May be an image of 2 people, bird and text

April 2022

“if i were any good,” in Arabic translation by Nizar Sartawi, http://wkhwaja.agnesscott.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Addastour_Jordan_If-I-Were-Any-Good_Arabic-Translation_Nizar-Sartawi.jpeg

http://wkhwaja.agnesscott.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ad-Dastour_if-i-were-any-good_Arabic-translation-by-Nizar-Sartawi.docx, Ad-Dastour, Jordan, April 8, 2022.

Arabic Translation by Nizar Sartawi of “Hold Your Breath,” https://www.almothaqaf.com/c1d-3/962252-%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%83?fbclid=IwAR1IRqiLxuSEIPe3i720o8zHnlzlsmlSrg7sLDKJOwcN_iQRiAjvr1hlum0#comment-168286,0, Al-Mohtaqaf, Jordan, April 4, 2022.

March 2022:

Virtual message and poem, shared by invitation from the poet Roza Boyanova, Union of Bulgarian Writers, World Poetry Day, Burgas, Bulgaria, March 21, 2022. Translation in Bulgarian read out by Roza Boyanova.

Poetry Reading, with Basudhara Roy Chatterjee (India), Shadab Zeest Hashmi (Pakistan/American), Shagufta Hussein (Bangladesh), Mawar Marzuki (Malaysia), Nizar Sartawi (Jordon), Deema Shehabi (Palestine/American), Verse Universe, World Poetry Day, Karim City College, March 21, 2022— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEvtMykOw9Y

“Reimagining the Humanities in a a Transcultural, Post-Truth World,” in Transcultural Humanities in South Asia: Critical Essays on Literature and Culture,” Waseem Anwar and  Nosheen Yousaf, eds. Routledge, UK. 2022.   https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003039549-4/reimagining-humanities-transcultural-post-truth-world-waqas-khwaja

September 2021:

Curtea de Argeș Poetry Nights Festival, Laureate of the Arts Award, Fundația Academia Internațională OrientOccident, Romania, September 16-20

https://www.ziarulprofit.ro/index.php/video-si-foto-poezie-n-pandemie-festivalul-international-noptile-de-poezie-de-la-curtea-de-arges-editia-a-25-a-si-a-desemnat-laureatii/?fbclid=IwAR1jk0k4C__42f-o435cIKPKuDQ_A-O1hUg7vWkqA_-wrr3p0DLliKckVxc

March 2021:

October 27: Islamabad Literary Festival 2020 (October 23-30) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7dcd9t6IYw

October 25, 2020:

Singing in the Dark: A Global Anthology of Poetry Under Lockdown. It includes my 4-part poem “On the Second Day.” The book is now out.

September 27, 2020: 100 Thousand Poets for Change: 10th Anniversary Reading

September 2020:

Sharing the collaborative 100-stanza “Self-Isolation Renga,” curated by Ioana Morpurga.

As the poets among you already know, before the haiku there was renga, a form of collaborative poetry from Japan from which the haiku and the tanka evolved. The original, tan renga, was a two-stanza poem, with one person writing the first stanza in 5-7-5 sound units and the second responding with a two-line second stanza in 7-7 mora, or sound units. Tan renga later became the basic unit for first the chōrenga and, still later, the hyakuin renga, a100-stanza renga.

Four months ago, the Romanian poet Ioana Morpugo started an ambitious project of worldwide collaboration for the 100-stanza renga. This morning, I received word from her that the project, which had a hundred poets collaborating across five continents and 47 nations, was at last complete. Here are some excerpts from her email communication, and below, the complete renga itself, yours truly at no. 77:

“As we all had to stay still/in place, our renga travelled freely from one poet to another. And now it is completed! . . . The first public appearance of our renga will be in Romania, beginning next week, where it [will be] published in my translation alongside the original text in English, in five consecutive issues of   ‘Observator Cultural’, with a short introduction I have written for the occasion . . . A film of our renga, also in five parts, with your recordings, is to be uploaded on the magazine website.” (Ioana Morpurga)

Quite an amazing feat, I should say!