Mosab Abu Toha in Conversation with Mary Karr

City Lights in conjunction with the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance and The Markaz Review present Mosab Abu Toha in conversation with Mary Karr, celebrating the publication of "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza," published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Things You May Find in My Ear" directly from City Lights at a 30% discount here: https://citylights.com/general-poetry/things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear/ Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, scholar, and librarian who was born in Gaza and has spent his life there. A graduate in English language teaching and literature, he taught English at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools in Gaza from 2016 until 2019, and is the founder of the Edward Said Library, Gaza’s first English-language library. In 2019-2020, Abu Toha was a Visiting Poet in the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University; a Visiting Librarian at Harvard’s Houghton Library; and a Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative Fellow in the Harvard Divinity School. In 2020, Abu Toha gave talks and readings at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and the University of Arizona. He also spoke at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting held in Philadelphia in January 2020. In October 2021, University of Notre Dame’s Literatures, Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance lecture series hosted Abu Toha to speak about his poetry and work in Gaza. Abu Toha is a columnist for Arrowsmith Press, and his writings from Gaza have appeared in The Nation, Arrowsmith Press, and Literary Hub. His poems have been published on the Poetry Foundation’s website, in Poetry Magazine, Banipal, Solstice, The Markaz Review, The New Arab, Peripheries, and other journals. Mary Karr is an award-winning poet and best-selling memoirist. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed and New York Times best-selling memoirs "The Liars’ Club," "Cherry," and "