Live, from my house!, Broadcast of Willie Perdomo and Malik Abduh Poetry Reading

When I moved to Philly, I was happy to have a space that lends itself to sharing. So I thought I’d hold occasional gatherings of writers, musicians, and artists. 

Ayat, simply, means love in Ilocano, the language of my parents – though I’m told that in Arabic it can refer to the verses of the Qur'an or it can mean a sign of love or gratitude. I’m hoping to make a space where people can share what they love. Ayat events are mostly informal and completely irregularly scheduled. 

As a way of making a first blessing, Willie Perdomo and Malik Abduh will be reading poems. Friday, June 13, approximately 6:45pm EDT. 

Malik Abduh received his MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers-Camden in 2011. He was the recipient of the 2008 Rutgers University Alumni Association award for Creative Writing. He lived abroad for many years in Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and other countries. He is fluent in classical Arabic and works as a translator/interpreter. His interests are the Bedouin verse of early Arab poets and the Imagist movement of the early 20th century.

Willie Perdomo is the author of The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (Penguin Poets, 2014), Smoking Lovely (Rattapallax, 2003), winner of the PEN Beyond Margins Award, and Where a Nickel Costs a Dime (W.W. Norton, 1996), a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, BOMB, Mandorla, and African Voices. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee, a former recipient of the Woolrich Fellowship in Creative Writing at Columbia University, and a two-time New York Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellow. He is founder/publisher of Cypher Books, a VONA/Voices faculty member, and is currently an Instructor in English at Phillips Exeter Academy.