Doyali Farah Islam

Doyali Farah Islam reads from her poetry collection, Yūsuf and the Lotus Flower

Published by: BuschekBooks

Time of Reading: 2:57

Doyali Farah Islam offers Yūsuf and the Lotus Flower as her first collection of poetry. She is the first-place winner of Contemporary Verse 2’s 35th Anniversary Contest, and her poems appear in Grain Magazine (38.2) amongst other places. She holds a degree in English and Equity Studies from the University of Toronto (Victoria College). Born to Bangladeshi parents, Islam grew up in Toronto, Canada, and spent four years abroad in London, England. As to her true dwelling place, she can only offer: “I am borrowed breath. / if you too are borrowed, / we meet in the home of our breather.”

"Yūsuf and the Lotus Flower marks not only the debut of an extraordinary poet, but a fearless fusion of conviction and imagination, spirit and ink."
—Sylvia Legris, Winner of the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize

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