Books & Writings
Odyssey, Mediterranean Poetry
The Markaz Review
Delaware Poetry Review
Odyssey, Mediterranean Poetry
Review of Rabih Alameddine's The Hakawati
Washington Post
Review of Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Washington Post
An Open Letter to President-Elect Barack Obama
Beacon Broadside
Beacon Broadside
“If the nation state is a scheme to shore up patriarchy and property rights, then I want no part of it. I want to live a life that would be welcomed in the country of women. In WHY AN AUTHOR WRITES TO A GUY HOLDING A FISH, Laila Halaby is not the border guard of that country, but she is one of its fierce and precious caretakers, denizens, and storytellers. Writing with clarity and compassion, she reminds us that the journey is made not in miles but in transformation — may I have her luck to accidentally swallow half a bee ‘to recognize the wings/ I’ve had all this time.’”
~ Farid Matuk, Associate Professor at The University of Arizona, author of The Real Horse (2018) and My Daughter La Chola (2013).
“Love is not a noun; it is a verb. The best of Laila Halaby’s admirable collection of love poetry written after the loss of a long marriage, bears this difficult discovery. In WHY AN AUTHOR WRITES TO A GUY HOLDING A FISH, Halaby endures the sexual labyrinth of a culture that sells love as an object to possess or fall into. She has a knowing, sharp, humorous eye for the business-like sifting of computer dating (‘I am no longer interested in the position’). But finally, awash in inauthenticity, Halaby comes upon the real thing: ‘Land me gently/between the pages/of your life/not a bookmark . . . the ink itself.’”
~ Gregory Orfalea, award-winning novelist, author of Journey to the Sun (2014) and The Man Who Guarded the Bomb (2010).