Books
The New Angel
Transit Lounge Publishing, 2008
Described as an “absorbing romantic tragedy notable for its precise and fiercely felt prose” by Cameron Woodhead in The Age newspaper; a “harrowing but brilliant debut novel” by Carlene Elwood in The Sunday Tasmanian; a “wonderful novel by a highly talented Iranian-born Australian writer” by Mark Rubbo in Readings Monthly magazine; a novel with “an edgy sense of lived experience that makes it compelling” by Miriam Cosic in The Australian newspaper; and “an important novel” by Kerryn Goldsworthy in The Sydney Morning Herald, The New Angel is a narrative meditation on the philosophy of history. The story begins with a young man on the Gold Coast, Australia, called Bahram receiving a phone call from his cousin Abbas. The phone call leads Bahram to remember his adolescence in Iran and his romance with the beautiful and charismatic Fereshteh (Persian for ‘angel’). As the adult Bahram drives south to Melbourne to confront Abbas, his recollections of the past intensify and reach an apocalyptic conclusion. Visit the publisher’s website here. Listen to an interview with Ali about this book here. Read reviews of the book here, here, and here.
Fifty Poems of Attar
re.press, 2007
Written with Dr. Kenneth Avery, this book includes English translations, as well as the original Farsi texts of, fifty ghazals (Middle Eastern lyrical odes) written by the 13th century Persian poet, mystic and philosopher Farid od-Din Attar of Neishapur. Attar is perhaps best known as the author of the epic allegory Mategh ot-Tayr (Conference of the Birds), and also for his influence on the younger Sufi poet Jalal ed-Din Rumi. The fifty poems translated and collected in this volume are based around concepts and motifs familiar to the readers of Rumi and the Conference: the Lover’s discourse with the Beloved, the Seven Valleys of Love, and the mystical rites of Separation, the Path, Annihilation and the Union. These poems are deeply passionate, often melancholic, contemplations on love, longing and solitude. Visit the book’s official website here. Read a review of the book here. Read about the book in Persian here.
Eyes in Times of War
Salt Publishing, 2006
Noted as “highly commended” by Gig Ryan in The Age newspaper, and “sharp and passionate” by Alicia Sometimes in Zest e-magazine, this collection of Ali’s dialectical, deconstructive poems targets the issue of war and the agendas of today’s most belligerent warriors. The poems collected in this volume are mostly written in response to the calamities of the ‘post-9/11′ world, in which religious hatred, imperialist aggression, racism and tribalisms of all kind have coalesced to create an infernal landscape of perpetual violence. The instances of violence documented in this collection, however, are not all martial: recounted are the author’s memories of suicidal friends, acts of self-immolation, and the ideological brutality of neo-conservative thinkers, Islamist fundamentalists and nationalist dictatorships. Included are also poems of survival, hope, and even love. Visit the book’s official website here. Read a review of the book here.
eliXir: a story in poetry
Grendon Press, 2002
A candid and apparently disturbing discontinuous narrative chronicling the hellish experiences of ‘Generation X’ outsiders in a nameless Australian City. Combining elements of ‘projective verse’, ‘confessional poetry’ and ‘visual poetry’, this book offers an account of a number of lives burnt out by years of systematic abuse and brutality. The City is on fire and the story’s protagonists – Arash, an Iranian-born alcoholic would-be poet; Felix, a failed musician and chronic substance abuser; and Jasmine, rape victim and nightclub stripper – seem destined for annihilation in the City’s bright flames. Read a review of the book here.
