Category Archives: Blog

It was such an honor & joy to present my research on Rohingya literature yesterday in Algeria at the Borders / Crossing Borders in Contemporary Literature & Culture Conference — many thanks to the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education & University of Mohamed Boudiaf of M’sila for this wonderful gathering. A month or so before the COVID-19 pandemic began, I was fortunate to travel from China to Algeria to give a keynote address, and it was lovely to return to Algeria this week virtually to speak about Burma and Bangladesh. Everyone was very welcoming and the discussions were so stimulating that I stayed up until 4 am to participate all night long from California.

It’s wild that in the People’s Republic of China, my days were filled with sword play (studying tai chi with sword) and my nights were devoted to standup comedy — and now in California I’m on the same tai chi sword by day and standup comedy by night schedule here in Hollywood! Very grateful to be able to continue doing both of my passions here in Los Angeles…

It’s such a total joy to teach my students in Myanmar, and their achievements never cease to amaze me. They are winning scholarships, fellowships, and conference invitations around the world, so they’re always flying off to places like Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and America (of course I let them skip class to go be academic rockstars!). So proud of them for all their hard work at such a difficult time…

I launched my worldwide standup comedy tour in the People’s Republic of China during the pandemic, and now I’m bringing my act to Hollywood — figured I might as well, cause we’re all gonna die! YOLO!

Abu and I are so grateful to train in capoeira with the greatest living mestre in the world, with whom I first started studying over two decades ago. I recently bought a new berimbau here in California (made of a special and very hard-to-find lightweight wood), and it feels so good to be reunited with my old capoeira crew again.

Recently, my friend and I went to Tehrangeles for an amazing Persian feast at Attari Sandwich Shop — followed by clothes shopping, as my mom wanted me to find her a new outfit with Persian calligraphy.

Abu and I like to spend much of our day watching our bird and squirrel neighbors — great way to start and end each day (coffee included)…

I hit the road this week to give a talk on my book, The Gift of Rumi (St. Martin’s Press), at Chapman University. I was grateful for the invitation and touched by the warm welcome — I’ve been having a blast speaking with students about my book on both coasts — like recently at Brown and this week at Chapman.

My book is available for purchase at Macmillan, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, and other stores. The audio book is available on Spotify and at Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Scribd, Chirp, Libro, and 40+ retail and library distribution partners.

I had the pleasure last night of giving a talk on my book, The Gift of Rumi (St. Martin’s Press), at Brown University. It was so wonderful to reconnect with my Brown roots (as a four time alumna), and I’m touched that everyone who attended was gifted a copy of my book. I was grateful for the invitation to share a bit about my inner and outer journeys.

My book is available for purchase at Macmillan, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, and other stores. The audio book is available on Spotify and at Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Scribd, Chirp, Libro, and 40+ retail and library distribution partners.

I’m so touched by this gorgeous review of my new book, The Gift of Rumi (St. Martin’s Press), in the Sydney Review of Books:

Please share the link with your friends and on social media! The book is available for purchase at Macmillan, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM, and other stores. The audio book is available at Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Scribd, Chirp, Libro, and 40+ retail and library distribution partners.

Abu and I hit the beach early this week-end after morning capoeira class and today after a 7 am Zoom meeting in Burma (below). I was tempted to go back to bed this morning after my meeting, but I’m glad we decided to take an ocean stroll instead. Though I’m not a morning person at all (always the night owl), I’m beginning to cultivate more of an appreciation of the quiet mood, special light, and infinite promise of an early morning.

I recently read Beckett’s play, Happy Days, aloud on the beach for a few of my friends. I had the honor of being the first to teach this extraordinary play in the Sultanate of Oman (and perhaps the whole Arabian peninsula?) and also the People’s Republic of China. To read the play on the beach here in America was a dream come true!

If you know the play, you know that the main character, Winnie, is buried up to her waist for the first act and up to her neck in the second act. So where better to read this play than buried on the beach!?! My friends had never read the play, so they appreciated having me read it to them in the great outdoors! Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Pier House on the beach to discuss the play’s relevant themes — they liked it so much they said they were going to go read it for themselves to analyze it more deeply. If you’re looking for some week-end fun, grab a few friends and read a play or some poetry out in nature — highly recommend!

From hiking in the Himalayas of Tibet to chilling on the beaches of California, little Abu is always on a grand adventure!

I’m happy to share with you my new publication in the International Journal of Persian Literature — which is about how Persia, Sufism, and the Silk Road are depicted in the Turkmen poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy (and his poetry’s impact on Soviet and post-Soviet literature in Central Asia). I had the unique honor of living (twice!) in Turkmenistan — and both times were a dream come true.  I first presented this research at a groundbreaking conference on the Caspian at Yale University. I am grateful for this opportunity to bring Turkmenistan’s finest poet to the attention of western scholars, as his poetry has been neglected for too long in western academic circles.