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Lena Khalaf Tuffaha is a poet, essayist, and translator. Her first book, Water & Salt (Red Hen Press) won the 2018 Washington State Book Award for Poetry. Her first chapbook, Arab in Newsland, won the 2016 Two Sylvias Press Prize. Her chapbook, Letters from the Interior, (Diode 2019), is a finalist for the 2020 Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize.
You can follow her @LKTuffaha |
News
July 2020
Letters from the Interior is a finalist for the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize! Stay tuned for news about the prize winners’ reading in September 2020.
June 2020
Award-winning novelist Sahar Mustafa and I join Palestine Museum-US founder Faisal Salah for a Friday Literary Panel conversation about writing, Palestinian life in the US, and our most recent publications.
November 2019
Open Books Poetry Series at Hugo House
November 2019
I spoke with poet sister Nathalie Handal about one of my beloved places for The City and the Writer.
October 2019
IT’S HERE!! Letters from the Interior can now be ordered directly from the publisher, Diode Editions
September 2019
Seattle Arts and Lecture inaugurated the 2019-2020 poetry series with a reading by luminous poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Huge crowd at the beautifully renovated Town Hall and the pleasure of a lifetime, to be in conversation with my poetry MVP.
June 2019
Honored to be one of the recipients of a 2019 Artist Trust Fellowship! I’m so grateful for this generous support and recognition of my work.
June 2019
“Miss Sahar Listens to Fairuz Sing ‘The Bees’ Path’” wins the Robert Watson Literary Prize
April 2019
What a beautiful night with friends new and old at Another Story Bookshop in Toronto for a reading with fellow Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah. Thanks to the lovely Dina Omar for emceeing and thanks to Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Cahoots Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre for co-sponsoring the event.
February 18, 2019
I’m absolutely thrilled to share the news that I’ve joined the Diode family. My chapbook, LETTERS FROM THE INTERIOR, is forthcoming this fall. Special thanks to magnificent editor Patty Paine who has been a champion for these poems from the earliest drafts.
January 16, 2019
I’m delighted to have a new poem in this talent-filled issue of TriQuarterly, my first publication in the journal.
January 14, 2019
So pleased to be interviewed by the lovely poets at The Poet Salon podcast.
2018 Nominations
Heartfelt gratitude to the these journals for publishing my poems and nominating them for the Pushcart Prize:
Diode – Lemon Blossoms
Crab Creek Review—Glossing the Verge
New England Review—Apricots
December 21, 2018
Grateful to poet friend Luther Hughes for this interview and to the Seattle Times
December 14, 2018
Copper Canyon Poetry Party/Book Release for So Far, So Good, Ursula K. LeGuin's last poetry collection with poets Karen Finneyfrock, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Azzura Tyabji, and Jane Wong.
December 1, 2018
Celebrating Seattle poet Malcolm Friend’s debut poetry collection Our Bruises Kept Singing Purple alongside Quenton Baker and Luther Hughes with a reading at Rainier Valley Arts Center.
November 10, 2018
Thank you Poetry Daily for sharing my poem "Apricots" today and thanks to Rick Barot and the New England Review for first publishing it in Vol. 39 No. 2.
November 9, 2018
I am overjoyed that Water & Salt received an Honorable Mention in the Arab American Book Awards Poetry category. It is a great privilege for my first book to be celebrated alongside this year's winner, Safia ElHillo's The January Children.
November 1, 2018
Thank you Waxwing for publishing my poem "This Day Our Daily Bread"
October 20, 2018
A memorable evening at Open Books celebrating the New England Review’s 40th anniversary! What a privilege to read with Rick Barot, Gabrielle Bates, Keetje Kuipers, Susan Rich, Martha Silano.
October 13, 2018
Humbled and grateful that Water and Salt won the 2018 Washington State Book Award for Poetry
May 17-20, 2018
Spending my birthday weekend at Skagit Valley Poetry Festival! Proud to read at opening night Poet’s Soiree with poets Ada Limon, Brian Turner, and Robert Pinsky. The festival is a true celebration of poets and poetry in a beautiful town. Samar Abulhassan, Daemond Arrindell, Quenton Baker, Jennifer Foerester are among the many talented poets I was lucky to read and work with this spring.
Fall/Winter 2017
I’m looking forward to reading poems and hopefully meeting readers and writers along the way. Click here to find out where I’ll be travelling with Water & Salt this fall. Visit this site again soon as we add new events!
August 25, 2017
Journalist Zahraa Farhat and I talk about heritage, childhood writing dreams, and the poets whose imaginations keep homelands alive in this interview for the Arab American News
August 9, 2017
To learn more about my next poetry adventure, click here!
July 28, 2017
Gratitude to Poet Jenna Le for her review of Water & Salt in The Rumpus
July 15, 2017
My poem “In Case of Emergency” from Arab in Newsland was first published here in the Massachusetts Review. I talked to the editors about the process of writing the poem, coffee rituals, and geraniums as resistance.
July 12, 2017
When I hear poet Elizabeth Austen’s voice on KUOW, my pulse settles into a gentle hum and I know I am about to enter a rewarding conversation about poetry. I’m so grateful to her for the invitation to take about Water & Salt and the way poetry can help us navigate a thorny world with our children. You can listen to our conversation here
June 27, 2017
I gushed about Safia ElHillo’s gorgeous debut full-length The January Children in Poetry Northwest’s appreciations. Treat yourself to a copy of this book as soon as possible!
May 2, 2017
I love the appreciations that Poetry Northwest debuts this month, in which poets write about the books they’ve read and admired, a kind of gushing to your friends about what stays with you. Poet and editor Erin Malone’s beautiful words here about Water and Salt are a gift.
April 27, 2017
It was such a pleasure to talk with my Hedgebrook sister Crystal Kim about Water & Salt here in the Apogee Journal.
April 26, 2017
Thrilled by this generous review of Water & Salt here in Library Journal's "13 Highly Recommended Titles That Will Shock You Awake!" and equally thrilled to be in the company of so many poets I admire. It concludes with a "verdict". Thank goodness the judgement is in favor of the poems!
April 23, 2017
It is a gift to be read well, to have a generous and thoughtful reader meet you on the page. I am deeply moved by this review of Water & Salt by Paul Constant in the Seattle Weekly.
April 22, 2017 Water & Salt book launch at Elliott Bay Book Company at 7:00PM. More details soon. Thank you to Rich Smith and the Stranger for the shout out!
March 11, 2017 Chapbook launch for Arab in Newsland at Open Books in Seattle. Warm thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me, and thanks to Two Sylvias Press and the magnificent Open Books team for hosting us! For pictures from the event check out the Two Sylvias Facebook page here
February 16, 2017 Immigrants Wanted! at SoulFood Poetry Night in Redmond, Washington. A reading with poets Faiza Sultan and Mitra Lotfi Shemirani celebrating the languages, heritage, and poetry of three local poets. Hosted by Redmond poet laureate Michael Dylan Welch.
February 10, 2017 Pre-release copies of Water & Salt sold out at AWP2017! It was a pleasure to read some poems from the book with fellow Red Hen authors at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC. For an ARC, please contact Keaton at www.redhen.org
February 8, 2017 What a lovely surprise to find my book on this list just as I am heading to AWP2017! Thank you Paul and Martin at Seattle Review of Books
October, 2016
Winner of the 2016 Two Sylvias Poetry Prize.
Thank you to poet January Gill O'Neil for selecting my manuscript Arab in Newsland for the Two Sylvias Chapbook Prize! Stay tuned for more information about the Spring 2017 publication date.
September 21, 2016
WordsWest begins its third year with a reading by WA State Poet Laureate Todd Marshall and Friends.
Click on the link to hear Todd, former WA State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, Seattel Civic Poet Claudia Castro Luna, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and at minute 45:06 two new poems by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CX6cYretMs
April 28, 2016
Join Alan Lau, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and EJ Koh for the Beacon Arts National Poetry Month Reading.
Beacon Hill Public Library, 6:00pm, Beacon Bards.
April 1, 2016
In Our Own Words: Muslim Women Poets at AWP
Poets Deema K. Shehabi, Shadab Zeest Hashimi, and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha read poems and engaged the audience in conversation at AWP 2016 in Los Angeles.
April 2016
New Poems in Compose
My poems "When the Sky is No Longer a Womb for Prayers" and "Exceptional" have been published in the journal Compose.
March 2016
New Poems in diode
My poems "Maqaam" and "Nakba" have been published in the Spring 2016 issue of the poetry journal diode (volume 9 number 1).
March 2016
New Poems in the Pittsburgh Poetry Review
My poems "Rootwork" and "Bleu Blanc Rouge" have been published in the March 2016 issue of PPR. To order a copy of the issue, click here.
December 9, 2015
Seattle Arab-American Poet Seeks to "Remind Us of the Human"
Thank you to Washington State Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen on KUOW
December 2015
Ruin
My poem "Ruin" is nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Lunch Ticket.
November 11, 2015
New Poem
My newest poem, "Arrest", inspired by Palestinian children living under occupation, is exclusively available here.
October 25, 2015
"Middle Village" nominated for Pushcart Prize by OFI Press Mexico
Thank you to Jack Little and OFI Press Mexico for nominating my poem "Middle Village" for a Pushcart Prize. The poem is included in my book, Water & Salt, forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2017.
October 22, 2015
The James Franco Review
Capitol Hill Branch Library (Seattle Public Library), 425 Harvard Ave. E.
Highlighting underrepresented writers—i.e., pretty much everyone but Mr. Franco--JFR welcomes contributors Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, EJ Koh, Isaiah Swango, and Youth Poet Laureate Leija Farr. Founding editor Corinne Manning and Aaron Counts host.
June 4, 2015
Thank you to the Ofi Press in Mexico City for publishing my poems "Tu'burni" and "Middle Village" in the June-July 2015 Issue of the magazine. Check out Volume 42 of the Ofi Press here.
May 27, 2015
Thank you to Michele Penaloza and the James Franco Review for selecting my poems "Linger" and "(Dis)Placed" for publication in the journal's third issue. Read the Issue 3 of JFR here.
Letters from the Interior is a finalist for the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Prize! Stay tuned for news about the prize winners’ reading in September 2020.
June 2020
Award-winning novelist Sahar Mustafa and I join Palestine Museum-US founder Faisal Salah for a Friday Literary Panel conversation about writing, Palestinian life in the US, and our most recent publications.
November 2019
Open Books Poetry Series at Hugo House
November 2019
I spoke with poet sister Nathalie Handal about one of my beloved places for The City and the Writer.
October 2019
IT’S HERE!! Letters from the Interior can now be ordered directly from the publisher, Diode Editions
September 2019
Seattle Arts and Lecture inaugurated the 2019-2020 poetry series with a reading by luminous poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Huge crowd at the beautifully renovated Town Hall and the pleasure of a lifetime, to be in conversation with my poetry MVP.
June 2019
Honored to be one of the recipients of a 2019 Artist Trust Fellowship! I’m so grateful for this generous support and recognition of my work.
June 2019
“Miss Sahar Listens to Fairuz Sing ‘The Bees’ Path’” wins the Robert Watson Literary Prize
April 2019
What a beautiful night with friends new and old at Another Story Bookshop in Toronto for a reading with fellow Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah. Thanks to the lovely Dina Omar for emceeing and thanks to Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Cahoots Theatre, and Nightwood Theatre for co-sponsoring the event.
February 18, 2019
I’m absolutely thrilled to share the news that I’ve joined the Diode family. My chapbook, LETTERS FROM THE INTERIOR, is forthcoming this fall. Special thanks to magnificent editor Patty Paine who has been a champion for these poems from the earliest drafts.
January 16, 2019
I’m delighted to have a new poem in this talent-filled issue of TriQuarterly, my first publication in the journal.
January 14, 2019
So pleased to be interviewed by the lovely poets at The Poet Salon podcast.
2018 Nominations
Heartfelt gratitude to the these journals for publishing my poems and nominating them for the Pushcart Prize:
Diode – Lemon Blossoms
Crab Creek Review—Glossing the Verge
New England Review—Apricots
December 21, 2018
Grateful to poet friend Luther Hughes for this interview and to the Seattle Times
December 14, 2018
Copper Canyon Poetry Party/Book Release for So Far, So Good, Ursula K. LeGuin's last poetry collection with poets Karen Finneyfrock, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Azzura Tyabji, and Jane Wong.
December 1, 2018
Celebrating Seattle poet Malcolm Friend’s debut poetry collection Our Bruises Kept Singing Purple alongside Quenton Baker and Luther Hughes with a reading at Rainier Valley Arts Center.
November 10, 2018
Thank you Poetry Daily for sharing my poem "Apricots" today and thanks to Rick Barot and the New England Review for first publishing it in Vol. 39 No. 2.
November 9, 2018
I am overjoyed that Water & Salt received an Honorable Mention in the Arab American Book Awards Poetry category. It is a great privilege for my first book to be celebrated alongside this year's winner, Safia ElHillo's The January Children.
November 1, 2018
Thank you Waxwing for publishing my poem "This Day Our Daily Bread"
October 20, 2018
A memorable evening at Open Books celebrating the New England Review’s 40th anniversary! What a privilege to read with Rick Barot, Gabrielle Bates, Keetje Kuipers, Susan Rich, Martha Silano.
October 13, 2018
Humbled and grateful that Water and Salt won the 2018 Washington State Book Award for Poetry
May 17-20, 2018
Spending my birthday weekend at Skagit Valley Poetry Festival! Proud to read at opening night Poet’s Soiree with poets Ada Limon, Brian Turner, and Robert Pinsky. The festival is a true celebration of poets and poetry in a beautiful town. Samar Abulhassan, Daemond Arrindell, Quenton Baker, Jennifer Foerester are among the many talented poets I was lucky to read and work with this spring.
Fall/Winter 2017
I’m looking forward to reading poems and hopefully meeting readers and writers along the way. Click here to find out where I’ll be travelling with Water & Salt this fall. Visit this site again soon as we add new events!
August 25, 2017
Journalist Zahraa Farhat and I talk about heritage, childhood writing dreams, and the poets whose imaginations keep homelands alive in this interview for the Arab American News
August 9, 2017
To learn more about my next poetry adventure, click here!
July 28, 2017
Gratitude to Poet Jenna Le for her review of Water & Salt in The Rumpus
July 15, 2017
My poem “In Case of Emergency” from Arab in Newsland was first published here in the Massachusetts Review. I talked to the editors about the process of writing the poem, coffee rituals, and geraniums as resistance.
July 12, 2017
When I hear poet Elizabeth Austen’s voice on KUOW, my pulse settles into a gentle hum and I know I am about to enter a rewarding conversation about poetry. I’m so grateful to her for the invitation to take about Water & Salt and the way poetry can help us navigate a thorny world with our children. You can listen to our conversation here
June 27, 2017
I gushed about Safia ElHillo’s gorgeous debut full-length The January Children in Poetry Northwest’s appreciations. Treat yourself to a copy of this book as soon as possible!
May 2, 2017
I love the appreciations that Poetry Northwest debuts this month, in which poets write about the books they’ve read and admired, a kind of gushing to your friends about what stays with you. Poet and editor Erin Malone’s beautiful words here about Water and Salt are a gift.
April 27, 2017
It was such a pleasure to talk with my Hedgebrook sister Crystal Kim about Water & Salt here in the Apogee Journal.
April 26, 2017
Thrilled by this generous review of Water & Salt here in Library Journal's "13 Highly Recommended Titles That Will Shock You Awake!" and equally thrilled to be in the company of so many poets I admire. It concludes with a "verdict". Thank goodness the judgement is in favor of the poems!
April 23, 2017
It is a gift to be read well, to have a generous and thoughtful reader meet you on the page. I am deeply moved by this review of Water & Salt by Paul Constant in the Seattle Weekly.
April 22, 2017 Water & Salt book launch at Elliott Bay Book Company at 7:00PM. More details soon. Thank you to Rich Smith and the Stranger for the shout out!
March 11, 2017 Chapbook launch for Arab in Newsland at Open Books in Seattle. Warm thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me, and thanks to Two Sylvias Press and the magnificent Open Books team for hosting us! For pictures from the event check out the Two Sylvias Facebook page here
February 16, 2017 Immigrants Wanted! at SoulFood Poetry Night in Redmond, Washington. A reading with poets Faiza Sultan and Mitra Lotfi Shemirani celebrating the languages, heritage, and poetry of three local poets. Hosted by Redmond poet laureate Michael Dylan Welch.
February 10, 2017 Pre-release copies of Water & Salt sold out at AWP2017! It was a pleasure to read some poems from the book with fellow Red Hen authors at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC. For an ARC, please contact Keaton at www.redhen.org
February 8, 2017 What a lovely surprise to find my book on this list just as I am heading to AWP2017! Thank you Paul and Martin at Seattle Review of Books
October, 2016
Winner of the 2016 Two Sylvias Poetry Prize.
Thank you to poet January Gill O'Neil for selecting my manuscript Arab in Newsland for the Two Sylvias Chapbook Prize! Stay tuned for more information about the Spring 2017 publication date.
September 21, 2016
WordsWest begins its third year with a reading by WA State Poet Laureate Todd Marshall and Friends.
Click on the link to hear Todd, former WA State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, Seattel Civic Poet Claudia Castro Luna, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and at minute 45:06 two new poems by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CX6cYretMs
April 28, 2016
Join Alan Lau, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and EJ Koh for the Beacon Arts National Poetry Month Reading.
Beacon Hill Public Library, 6:00pm, Beacon Bards.
April 1, 2016
In Our Own Words: Muslim Women Poets at AWP
Poets Deema K. Shehabi, Shadab Zeest Hashimi, and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha read poems and engaged the audience in conversation at AWP 2016 in Los Angeles.
April 2016
New Poems in Compose
My poems "When the Sky is No Longer a Womb for Prayers" and "Exceptional" have been published in the journal Compose.
March 2016
New Poems in diode
My poems "Maqaam" and "Nakba" have been published in the Spring 2016 issue of the poetry journal diode (volume 9 number 1).
March 2016
New Poems in the Pittsburgh Poetry Review
My poems "Rootwork" and "Bleu Blanc Rouge" have been published in the March 2016 issue of PPR. To order a copy of the issue, click here.
December 9, 2015
Seattle Arab-American Poet Seeks to "Remind Us of the Human"
Thank you to Washington State Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen on KUOW
December 2015
Ruin
My poem "Ruin" is nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Lunch Ticket.
November 11, 2015
New Poem
My newest poem, "Arrest", inspired by Palestinian children living under occupation, is exclusively available here.
October 25, 2015
"Middle Village" nominated for Pushcart Prize by OFI Press Mexico
Thank you to Jack Little and OFI Press Mexico for nominating my poem "Middle Village" for a Pushcart Prize. The poem is included in my book, Water & Salt, forthcoming from Red Hen Press in 2017.
October 22, 2015
The James Franco Review
Capitol Hill Branch Library (Seattle Public Library), 425 Harvard Ave. E.
Highlighting underrepresented writers—i.e., pretty much everyone but Mr. Franco--JFR welcomes contributors Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, EJ Koh, Isaiah Swango, and Youth Poet Laureate Leija Farr. Founding editor Corinne Manning and Aaron Counts host.
June 4, 2015
Thank you to the Ofi Press in Mexico City for publishing my poems "Tu'burni" and "Middle Village" in the June-July 2015 Issue of the magazine. Check out Volume 42 of the Ofi Press here.
May 27, 2015
Thank you to Michele Penaloza and the James Franco Review for selecting my poems "Linger" and "(Dis)Placed" for publication in the journal's third issue. Read the Issue 3 of JFR here.
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