Palestine Week 2024: BLOOD ORANGE | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jan 22, 2024 6:00 pm
Location
14th & V
2021 14th St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20009
Jan 22, 2024 6:00 pm
14th & V
BLOOD ORANGE is a highly emotional, important and timely poetry collection by Mx. Yaffa (They/She), a trans Muslim displaced Indigenous Palestinian. Their writings probe the yearning for home, belonging, mental health, queerness, transness, and other dimensions of marginalization while nurturing dreams of utopia against the background of ongoing displacement and genocide of indigenous Palestinians. The collection came quickly and relentlessly, drawn from the depths of the author’s soul during a movement for a free Palestine and aligned with a solar eclipse. It beckons readers to re-evaluate what is perceived as immutable and to imagine pathways toward Utopia.
"BLOOD ORANGE"- the title an homage to the Yaffa Oranges (which were appropriated first by the British and subsequently by Israel) refers to the author themselves, their homeland and blood spilled in the name of settler colonialism.
This highly charged and cathartic body of work confronts the anguish and loss inflicted by genocide but also embraces a vision of a world free of it. The poems within "Blood Orange" were a means of working through and processing the grief caused by recent events and serve as an act of protest and defiance against settler colonialism as a whole.
Yaffa is joining us on the Busboys stage as part of our Palestine Week 2024 series to share their poetry, arts practice, and what they think the future could look like. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Yaffa will be available to sign after the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of BLOOD ORANGE will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Mx. Yaffa is an acclaimed disabled, autistic, trans, queer, Muslim, and indigenous Palestinian individual who has received multiple awards for their transformative work around displacement, decolonization, equity, and centering the lived experiences of individuals most impacted by injustice. Mx. Yaffa wears many hats in their professional life- they are the Executive Director of Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), as well as the founder of several non-profits and community projects. They are also an engineer, death and birthing doula, peer support specialist, consultant, and artist. Mx. Yaffa is a storyteller and an equity and transformation consultant, having shared their story with over 150,000 audience members at speaking events globally.
About Palestine Week
In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 thru January 24, 2024). This week long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions and other enriching events. We hope that such events will lead to better understanding and help to create a more peaceful and tolerant world.
Please visit our website at http://busboysandpoets.com for more information.
