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Esther Kamkar, Palo Alto, California poet. Poems, poetry, writing, published works - news and events

Reading - March 5, 2010, 7.30pm
3rd Anniversary of the Muttanabi Street Bombing - at The Great Overland Book Company, SF

Muttanabi Street Booksellers

Esther Kamkar and others will be reading for this event to mark the 3rd anniversary of the Muttanabi street bombing.

Date:
March 5, 2010
Time: Starts 7.30pm
Where: The Great Overland Book Company, 345 Judah St (between 8th Ave & 9th Ave), San Francisco, CA 94122 - MAP
Contact Info: (415) 664-012

Esther Kamkar published in London, UK Exiled Ink Magazine - Issue 12, Autumn/Winter 2009

Exiled Ink Magazine - Issue 12New innovative magazine reflects exciting, different voices in a new cultural environment. Content features literature, discussion and commentary. Exiled Ink is unique in providing an insight into dislocation and cultures of exile, both through the voices of exiled writers and through their literary work.

Conflict Zones - Sri Lanka

Poetry: R. Cheran, Thirumavalavan, Sivamohan Sumathy
Prose: Rohini Hensman
Articles: Sri Lankan Tamil Poetry - Rohini Hensman, Historical Background - Lakshmi Holmstrom

Iran
Poetry: Sholeh Wolpe, Esther Kamkar (Animals that We Are), Majid Naficy, Afshin Babzadeh, Reza Hiwa
Articles: Last Straw for Iranians - Fariba Marzban, Haleh Esfandiari - Claire Messud

Syria (Kurdish)
Poetry: Hussein Habash

Chechyna
Poetry: Mikhail Isin Eldin
Article: Apti Bisultanov - Sieglinde Geisel
Short Story: Tamara Islamova

Bosnia
Theatre Production and Script excerpts
Exiled Writers Ink National Mentoring and Translation Project
Poetry and Prose

Latin American Exile
Prose: Marta Raquel Zabelata Hinrichsen/ Alfredo Cordal
Poetry: Gisela Jachniuk

Exiled from Israel
Poetry: Haim Bresheeth

Writing Africa
Short Story: Fiston Mwanza
Poetry: Kiluanji Kush
Article: Caine Prize: Nisha Jones

Reviews
Anthology of Somali Literature - review: Stephen Watts
Leaving Tangiers by Tahar Ben Jelloun - review: Albert Pellicer
Rooftops of Tehran by Sholeh Wolpe - review: Jeremy Edward Shiok
Like Myth and Mother by S. Sumathy - review: Lynette Craig

:: Contact Info and Website: www.exiledwriters.co.uk

We Are All Iran: A Literary Reading to Mark the 6-month Anniversary of the Iranian Elections

      The June 12, 2009 Iranian presidential election put the international spotlight on Iran and the courageous acts of its citizens who filled the streets of Tehran to protest the election results. The days and weeks that followed June 12th--when ordinary citizens took to the streets to protest, to raise their voices-- inspired people around the globe..

       As the months have dragged on and media coverage has waned, the U.S. news headlines have refocused on Iran's nuclear ambitions--and by doing so have minimized the spirit and energy of the Iranian people in their efforts to challenge their government.

      To remember and bear witness to the extraordinary courage of the Iranian people, Bay Area writers from the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) will share their literary work at the San Francisco Public Library.

     Bay Area poets and novelists will read from published and recent work and invite members of the community to share with us as we remember the courage and sacrifice of those in Iran struggling for democracy, human rights, and to have their voices heard.

Authors to read include:

  • Persis Karim (introduction)

  • Laleh Khadivi
  • Esther Kamkar
  • Elizabeth Eslami
  • Ari Siletz
  • Anahid Hojjati
  • Farnoosh Seifoddini
  • Tissa Hami
  • Katayoon Zandvakili
  • Angella Nazarian

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009
Time: 2pm to 4pm
Where: San Francisco Public Library

Career Tip

From a 2009 Letter Addressed to Jamie Dimon , CEO of JP Morgan Chase

You tell your shareholders:
             This was perhaps our best year ever
And give them career tips:
             Keep a two-column to-do list
             and update it throughout the day —
                          things you owe people
                                        and things people owe you.

Consider these for your own list
in your pocket, Jamie Dimon —
things left behind, when people
are forced to leave their homes:
Empty prescription bottles
Hospital bed
Insulin needles
Tonka dump truck
Report card with As and Bs under a magnet
A pile of clothes hiding a small child’s artificial leg
Crayons scattered in the bedroom with the peeling princess mural
Wedding album discarded in the garage
Stack of unopened bills
Thomas the Train
“Get Rich in Real Estate” book

List after list
full of things and non-things.
Lists empty of things.

More new poems...

Reading by Authors from the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) in conjunction with the Art Exhibit
One Day: A Collective Narrative of Tehran
at Intersection for the Arts, November 21, 2009

With a Musical Performance by Hossein Massoudi & Ramin Zoufonoun

Inspired by artwork from the One Day: A Collective Narrative of Tehran exhibit, Bay Area Iranian American writers will read recent and new works of poetry and prose....

Mojdeh Marashi
Esther Kamkar
Farnaz Fatemi
Parissa Ebrahimzadeh
Siamak Vossoughi
Nazy Kaviani
Zara Houshmand
Ari Siletz


....will read in the gallery at Intersection for the Arts.

The afternoon includes an added musical performance by Hossein Massoudi (singer and percussionist from the Persian-fusion band Aleph Null who will perform with Bay Area expert tar player Ramin Zoufonoun.

One Day: A Collective Narrative of Tehran features the work of eight artists living in Tehran, Iran – Nima Alizadeh, Saba Alizadeh, Mohammad Ghazali, Ghazaleh Hedayat, Abbas Kowsari, Mehran Mohajer, Neda Razavipour, and Homayoun Sirizi – alongside new work by San Francisco- based artist Taraneh Hemami -- this exhibition compiles a collective narrative of everyday Tehran, the largest city in the Middle East and the 16th most populated city in the world with close to 8 million residents.

Representing the current unpredictability of each day in Tehran and also the hope that comes from imagining a better future, the artists chronicle narratives of place and time, demystifying life in a country that has been misunderstood and maligned for decades.

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009
Time: 2pm to 4:30 pm
Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Tickets are available at the door. Sliding scale: $5-15
For more information: (415) 626-2787 www.theintersection.org
The Intersection for the Arts -- Calendar

Esther Kamkar reading in concertEsther Kamkar reading at the 'Voice music from 10 composers' concert, San Francisco Community Music Center.

On October 3 San Francisco Community Music Center will perform Voice music from 10 composersthe San Francisco Community Music Center's Irregular Resolutions will perform the concert 'Voice music from 10 composers'.

Two of the featured performances will be by Ed Dierauf, composer of "Hummingbird Conditions" and "The Message" - a collaboration with Esther Kamkar who will read these poems, accompanied by Soprano Lisa Prosek and Pianist Patti Deuter.

Hummingbird Conditions for soprano & piano (Ed Dierauf)
The Message for soprano & piano (Ed Dierauf)

Date:
Saturday October 3, 2009
Time: 8pm
Where
: San Francisco Community Music Center
544 Capp St, San Francisco, CA 94110-2586
(415) 647-6015 -- Directions
Admission: $5 for seniors and students, $10 for everyone else.

Esther Kamkar

Esther Kamkar
has been invited to read together with Charlotte Muse and Terry Adams of Waverley Writers, for the recording of the Live Poets Society TV show at the Palo Alto Media Center.

The recording date has been set for September 22 and the program is scheduled for broadcast sometime after this.

The regular host of the Live Poetsshow has also invited Esther to host her own one-time show and invite her own guests. This is scheduled for sometime in October. We'll keep you posted.

Mutanabbi Street - Baghdad, Iraq
Photo by Raya

Esther Kamkar and other contributors will read from the 'Mutanabbi Street Starts Here' Anthology (forthcoming 2009, Red Hen Press) to mark the 2nd anniversary of the Mutanabbi Street Bombing, Baghdad, Iraq.

Come and share an evening of poetry and prose written and read by poets and writers from Iraq and the USA.

Where: At the Great Overland Book Company
345 Judah St. San Francisco, CA (on the N Judah Line @ 9th)
When: 7.30pm, Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Contact: Phone (415) 664-0126 for further information.

Hosted by The Mutanabbi Street Coalition and Beau Beausoleil

Update from Esther:

"The reading was in a funky and lovely used-books bookstore in San Francisco, Borderline Books, the owner, Beau Beausoleil, is the originator of Mutanabbi Starts Here. About 30 people came up to the second floor, and ten people read what we were assigned to read...poets, writers and journalists' memories, or interpretation of the old booksellers street and the history of publishing, selling, underground publishing of banned books, the river that has witnessed destruction over and over...
It was a powerful reading night.  It was good to read another poet's work, it took me out of myself. I was glad I had listened to the poet reading 'my poem' in Arabic."

esther Kamkar - Iranian American Poet - Palo Alto - California

Esther Kamkar co-wins Poetry Fellowship 2008


Esther Kamkar (above) of Palo Alto and Sarah Phoenix of Redwood City were this year’s co-winners for the Richard Maxwell Fellowship in Poetry. Judges noted the competition of worthy poets made the decision difficult, even as they agreed on co-winners rather than a single winner.

The fellowship provides free access to all conference readings, workshops and seminars. Each winner will receive a signed copy of one book, dinner with faculty, and a feature in the open reading.

Association for Iranian-American Writers -
Panel Discussion & Day-Long Workshop

(To inaugurate the Association for Iranian-American Writers)

::
Esther Kamkar will be joining a panel discussion and
day-long workshop
at the following venue:
Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture
When: May 3, 2008, 9am – 5 pm
Where: University of California, Irvine
Humanities Instructional Building (HIB)100
This event is free and open to the public
For further information please contact: Nasrin Rahimieh, Professor UC Irvine, (949) 824-0406, nasrin.rahimieh@uci.edu

Esther Kamkar, Eddie Gale, Georgette GaleFrom left: Esther Kamkar, Eddie Gale, Georgette Gale

I was honored to be included, to read with the Inner Peace Orchestra's immensely talented musicians and Eddie's soulful trumpet, through his loving directions. Eddie Gale told the audience to pay attention to their own inner peace...without it there won't be peace in the world.



Nov 2007 - Concert for World Peace
Featuring the Inner Peace Orchestra
founded and directed by Eddie Gale


The performance will consist of music from the
Eddie Gale Library and poetry by Esther Kamkar
When: Saturday, November 17 2007, 7pm
Where: First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto
625 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301
For ticket info and enquiries call 650-323-6167

Esther Kamkar featured in Monterey Poetry Review
Spring 2007, Vol.3/No.1 "Childhood" edition
Read more here

Esther Kamkar poem appears in Iranian.com
"Joys of a Simple Meal" - Read it here

Anthology review in Iranian.com
Review by Jasmin Darznik here

Anthology review in Publishers Weekly
Read an excerpt here

January 28 - Persis Karim, Esther Kamkar and contributing authors - Pleasanton Library - Women of the Iranian Diaspora
Reading from the anthology Let Me Tell You Where I've Been.
When: Sunday, January 28, 2007, 2pm (Free)
Where: Pleasanton Public Library, 400 Old Bernal Ave, Pleasanton, CA94566.

February 2 - Waverley Writers Group with Esther Kamkar, Persis Karim and Farnaz Fatemi
Readings from the anthology Let Me Tell You Where I've Been edited by Persis Karim.
When: Friday, February 2, 2007, 7.30pm (Free)
Where: Waverley Writers Group, convening at the Friends' Meeting House, 957 Colorado Ave, Palo Alto.

November 29 - Esther Kamkar and contributing authors -
San Francisco Main Library - Enemy Nations, Emerging Voices

- a reading of two groundbreaking anthologies: Let Me Tell You Where I've Been and Literature from the Axis of Evil.
When: Wednesday, November 29, 6-8pm (Free)
Where: San Francisco Main Library Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, Phone 415/557-4277

October 20 - Esther Kamkar and Persis Karim
Persian Excursion - Palo Alto Public Library - for all ages

A wonderful evening celebrating Iranian and Middle Eastern cultures with a reading by poets Esther Kamkar and Persis Karim (Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writings by Women of the Iranian Diaspora), a performance by members of the Niosha Dance Academy, and music by Ahl-i Nafs (People of the Spirit).
Persian refreshments will be served.
When: Friday, October 20, 7.30pm
Where: Palo Alto Main Library, 1213 Newell Rd, Palo Alto.
Phone: 650-329-2436

October 11 - Esther Kamkar and contributing authors
Let Me Tell You Where I've Been - Stanford University

When: Wednesday, October 11, 4pm
Where: Stanford University, 5th floor, Bender Room, Green Library.

August 25 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading -
Politics & Prose Book Shop

When: Friday, August 25, 7pm
Where: Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008, Toll Free: 1-800-722-0790

August 13 - Esther Kamkar & Nina Koepke - Poetic Images
A poetry and clay collaboration at The Main Gallery

When: Sunday, August 13, reading at 4pm
Where: The Main Gallery, 1018 Main Street Redwood City CA 94063 Phone: (650) 701-1018

July 18 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading -
Intersection for the Arts

When: Tuesday, July 18, 7.30pm
Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia Street
Mission District SF, Tel: (415) 626-2787, ext. 106

June 26 - Persis M. Karim and Esther Kamkar on KALW 91.7 FM
Station: KALW 91.7 FM - worldwide webcast.
Topic: Poetry readings, talk, call-ins.
When: Monday, June 26, 10am

June 26 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading - Cody's Books
When: Monday, June 26, 7.00pm.
Where:
Cody's Books, 1730 Fourth Street in Berkeley,
Toll Free: 800-995-1180 or 510-559-9500

June 25 - Persis M. Karim & Esther Kamkar on the
KUSP Poetry Show with Dennis Morton and Mort Marcus
Station: KUSP
Topic: Poetry, anthology readings, talk.
When: Sunday, June 25, 8pm - 9pm.

June 22 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading - Kepler's Books
When: Thursday, June 22, 7.30pm.
Where: Kepler's Books & Magazines, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA, 94025. Tel: (650) 324-4321

June 21 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading - Capitola Book Café
When: Wednesday, June 21, 7.30pm.
Where: Capitola Book Café, 1475 41st Avenue Capitola,
CA 95010. Tel: 831-462-4415

June 15 - Esther Kamkar Poetry Reading - City Lights
When: Thursday, June 15, 7pm.
Where: City Lights Book Store, 261 Columbus Avenue @ Broadway (North Beach), San Francisco. (Map) Tel + 415.362.8193

Mid-May -- Anthology Release
Anthology to be printed and shipped Mid-May 2006:
"Let Me Tell You Where I've Been" - new writing by women of the Iranian diaspora. With 3 poems by Esther Kamkar

Book collaboration
Carmela Rizzuto and Esther Kamkar
Hand-made book - "Lost and Found Again", 2005

   
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Esther Kamkar, Palo Alto, California artist and poet. Poems, poetry, writing, published works - footer logo

Copyright © 2009 Esther Kamkar. All Rights Reserved
– Poetry on Love and Longing – Poetry on Healing
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:: Logo woodcut by Barbara Leventhal-Stern
:: Cactus images (above) by Esther Kamkar