Join four Seattle-area poets – Jane Wong, Paul Hlava Ceballos, Gabrielle Bates, and Luther Hughes – for a reading in support of two families in Palestine, including the family of Aboud Al-Najjar, a 23-year-old law student and poet in Gaza. We’ll also play recordings of Aboud reading his own work and sell copies of his chapbook, along with signed collections donated by the featured poets and other donated art pieces.

We suggest a donation of $5-$15 for attending the event, but no one will be turned away from lack of funds. Donations can be made at any of the options at linktr.ee/rozan_and_aboud or at the door. To protect everyone’s safety and comfort during the infection-heavy winter months, this is a masks-required event, and masks will be available at the door.

Jane Wong (she/her) is the author of the memoir Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023), winner of the Washington State book award. She also wrote two poetry collections: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships and residencies from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Harvard's Woodberry Poetry Room, Artist Trust, Hedgebrook, Ucross, Loghaven, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and others. An interdisciplinary artist as well, she has exhibited her poetry installations and performances at the Frye Art Museum, Richmond Art Gallery, and the Asian Art Museum. She grew up in a take-out restaurant on the Jersey shore and is an Associate Professor at Western Washington University. Her website is janewongwriter.com and her Instagram is @paradeofcats. 

Paul Hlava Ceballos is the author of banana [ ], winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. His collaborative chapbook, Banana [ ] / we pilot the blood, shares pages with Quenton Baker and Christina Sharpe. He is a CantoMundo fellow and has been featured on the Poetry Magazine Podcast and Seattle’s The Stranger. He currently is the Poetry Editor of the Seattle Met and practices echocardiography. His website is paulhlava.com and his Instagram is @paulhlava.

Luther Hughes (they/them) is the author of A Shiver in the Leaves (BOA Editions, 2022), listed as best books of 2022 in The New Yorker, and the chapbook, Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018), recommended by the American Library Association. They are the founder of Shade Literary Arts, an organization for queer writers of color, and cohosts The Poet Salon Podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Their honors include the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowship, the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, Cascade PBS’s Black Arts Legacies honoree, and named Most Influential by Seattle Magazine. Their writing has been published in The Paris Review, Orion, American Poetry Review, and others. They’ve been featured in The Seattle Times, Forbes, Essence, KUOW Public Radio, and more. Luther lives in Seattle, where they were born and raised. Their website is lutherxhughes.com.

Gabrielle Bates (she/her) has had poems have appeared in the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Poetry Society of America, and the Cascadia Field Guide anthology. Her debut collection, Judas Goat (Tin House, 2023), was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and named Electric Lit's Top Poetry Book of 2023. Originally from Alabama, Gabrielle is currently based in Seattle, where she helps out at Open Books: A Poem Emporium, co-hosts the podcast The Poet Salon, and serves occasionally as visiting faculty for the Tin House Writers' Workshops. Her website is gabriellebat.es and her Instagram is @gabrielle_bates_. 

Aboud Al-Najjar is a law student and poet in Gaza, Palestine. He, his parents, and his four siblings were displaced from their village in late 2023 when their home was destroyed by Israeli bombs, and they have been moving around Gaza living in plastic tents ever since, trying to survive under genocide. Aboud found that poetry helped to transform the pain into verses, poems, and words that could alleviate what was inside of him. His first pieces are collected in his chapbook, Birds and Olives, which will be shared via recording as well. His Instagram is @aboad_alnajjar.