Kohl and Chalk - Softcover

In her first collection Baker of Tarifa, a contemplation of the symbiotic Euro-Arab culture of Andalusia and its reverberations across the centuries, Shadab Zeest Hashmi revealed a bold and original voice with an ability to meld cultures and poetic forms with great skill. In Kohl and Chalk, she takes this further with her accomplished ghazals - a poetic form that is central to Urdu literature and song. This is a truly exciting collection, and Hashmi is clearly a poet to watch. -- Muneeza Shamsie (Editor Leaving Home and A Dragon Fly in the Sun)

Shadab Zeest Hashmi is a Pushcart nominee and winner of the San Diego Book Award for poetry for BAKER OF TARIFA a book based on the history of interfaith tolerance in Al Andalus (Muslim Spain). Her work has been included in the Seeds of Peace concert with the award-winning Al Andalus Ensemble, in the film Cruzando Lineas: Crossing Lines, and has been translated into Urdu by Pakistan Academy of Arts and Letters. She has presented her series of poems and photographs titled "Across the Windowsill" at San Diego Museum of Art. She has served as an editor for the annual Magee Park Anthology and the online journal MahMag World Literature and has taught as a visiting professor in the MFA program at San Diego State University. She has published her poetry and prose in numerous journals worldwide and represents Pakistan on UniVerse: A United Nations of Poetry.