Songs of the silk road… a reading by Mahnaz Badihian and Youssef Alaoui, with music on tambur by Raman Osman, followed by an open mic. Doors at 6:30, poets at 7:00.

“Life took me through many different experiences, but art and poetry never left my side. “

Mahnaz Badihian is a poet, translator and artist whose work has been published in multiple languages worldwide and presented in several exhibits. Her publications include several books of poetry in Persian and English, and a Persian translation of Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, which became an underground hit within Iran. Her most recent publication is a bilingual CD of poems by Rumi with Jack Hirschman called Like This!.

“My brush and pen explain and explore life as it happens,” says Badihian. Currently, she resides in San Francisco, California where she runs an online multilingual literary magazine, MahMag.org and is a member of the San Francisco Revolutionary Poets Brigade. She had formal training in art under Master Nasr Esfahan in the ancient creative capital of Iran, Esfahan. Her previous exhibitions have been in Baltimore, MD; Iowa City, IA; and London, England. Most of her paintings are in private collections in the United States, Europe and Middle East.

“Without brush and pen, I would be lost in the solitude and alienation that I found myself in since childhood. Whatever may affect me, whether happiness, war, human suffering, or raw creative impulse, it has always been expressed by my brush and pen.”

Youssef Alaoui is an Arab Latino. His family and heritage are an endless source of inspiration for his varied, dark, spiritual and carnal writings. He has an MFA in Poetics from New College of California. He is a quiet individual experiencing the swirling cosmos as it taps against his window in a house not far from the sea.

His work has appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Big Bridge, 580 Split, Dusie Press, RIVET Journal, Paris Lit Up, and nominated for a Pushcart at Full of Crow.