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The Moon That Turns You Back

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鈥淔orgetting something doesn鈥檛 change it,鈥 writes Hala Alyan, a Palestinian American writer and clinical psychologist.

The Moon That Turns You Back book cover

At the heart of Hala Alyan鈥檚 fifth collection of poetry lies a single, persistent question: What does it mean to transform into something unrecognizable鈥攁nd what are the things that can bring us back?

Hala Alyan headshot

Ms. Alyan is the author of two novels, The Arsonists鈥 City and Salt Houses, which won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award. Her four previous collections of poetry include Atrium and The Twenty-Ninth Year.

Because a Hala Alyan poem is a startlingly frank, stunningly beautiful missive (never missile) that goes straight to the white-hot heart of things.

鈥淢y relationship to poetry mirrors my relationship to truth.鈥 Listen to the Living Writers interview with Hala Alyan .

Hala Alyan at Colgate

Join us in person or  on Thursday, Sept. 5, for Hala Alyan鈥檚 reading and book-signing. All Living Writers events take place at 4:30 p.m. EST in Persson Auditorium. Refreshments available.

Go Beyond the Book

  • 鈥淭he call to witness, and the responsibility that such a position brings, runs through [Hala Alyan鈥檚] latest book of poetry,鈥 writes Anthony Alessandrini in the .
  • 鈥淲e have been let into the lives of the people in Gaza in the most awful, intimate ways,鈥 writes Ms. Alyan in for The Guardian, 鈥淚 Am Not There and I Am Not Here.鈥 
  • 鈥淥nce I started writing, I felt I could not stop,鈥 says Ms. Alyan, in about connecting with home through storytelling.

鈥淧lease. I鈥檇 rather be alive than holy.
I don鈥檛 have time to write about the soul.
There are bodies to count.鈥

Hala Alyan, "The Interviewer Wants to Know about Fashion"