Yahia Lababidi

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Author's Bio

Yahia Lababidi, Lebanese-Egyptian-American, is the author of 11 critically-acclaimed books of aphorisms, essays, poetry and conversations. Lababidi's latest is Quarantine Notes (Fomite Press, 2023) short meditations composed during our global pandemic. Previous publications include: Desert Songs (Rowayat, 2022) a bilingual, photographic account of his desert retreats in Egypt; Learning to Pray (Kelsay Books, 2021) a collection of spiritual aphorisms and poems; as well as Revolutions of the Heart (Wipf & Stock, 2020) a mixed-genre compendium of his essays and conversations on crises and transformation. 

To view short literary videos, regularly, posted by Yahia Lababidi on his active YouTube channel, please, subscribe here:   https://www.youtube.com/@Yahia.Lababidi

Lababidi is also the author of 2 celebrated books of aphorisms: Signposts to Elsewhere (Hay House, 2019) and Where Epics Fail (Unbound, 2018) — the latter which he was invited by Oxford University to launch in the UK.

Featured on PBS NewsHour, Lababidi's aphorisms are generously endorsed by President Obama's inaugural poet, Richard Blanco.  Lababidi's Balancing Acts: New & Selected Poems (1993-2015) debuted at #1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases. 

His work has appeared on NPR, ABC Radio National, HBO, Best American Poetry, AGNI, World Literature Today, On Being with Krista Tippett and Lababidi has participated in international poetry festivals throughout the USA, Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East.

Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, three times, Lababidi's writing has been translated into several languages, including: Arabic, Hebrew, Slovak, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Swedish.

Literary agent: 
Sherna Khambatta Literary Agency

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Anthologies:
Masks: Bowie & Artists of Artifice (Intellective Book Publishers, Zurich, Switzerland, 2020)
,
Short Circuits: Aphorisms, Fragments, and Literary Anomalies (Schaffner Press, 2018)
,
Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitarianism Vol. 1 (McSweeney's Books, 2018)
,
Short Flights: 32 Modern Writers Share Aphorisms of Insight, Inspiration and Wicked Wit (Schaffner Press, 2015)
,
Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing (Pearson Longman, 2011)
,
In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself - Volume 8 (MW Enterprises, 2010)
,
Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists (Bloomsbury USA, 2007)
Books:
Where Epics Fail: Meditations to Live By (unbound CONTENT, 2018)
,
Barely There (Wipf and Stock, 2013)
,
The Artist as Mystic: Conversations with Yahia Lababidi (Onesuch Press, 2012)
,
Trial by Ink: From Nietzsche to Belly Dancing (Common Ground Publishing, 2010)
Journals:
,
Arena
,
berfrois
,
Bidoun
,
Cerise Press
,
Elephant
,
Guardian
,
Gulf Coast
,
Harper's
,
Hayden's Ferry Review
,
The Literary Review
,
New Internationalist
,
NPR
,
Philosophy Now
,
Pinch
,
Raconteur
,
Rain Taxi
,
Salon
,
Serving House Journal
,
The Idler
,
The Nervous Breakdown
,
The Prague Review
,
The Wildean
,
Tikkun

Poetry

Anthologies:
Truth to Power: Writers Respond to the Rhetoric of Hate and Fear (Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, 2017)
,
The Poet’s Quest for God: 21st Century Poems of Spirituality (Eyewear Publishing, 2015)
,
With Our Eyes Wide Open (West End Press, 2014)
,
Dogs Singing: A Tribute Anthology (Salmon Poetry, 2010)
,
Stranger at Home: American Poetry With An Accent (Numina Press, 2008)
Books:
Learning to Pray: a Book of Longing (Kelsay Books, 2021)
,
Balancing Acts: New & Selected Poems, 1993-2015 (Press 53, 2016)
,
Fever Dreams (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2011)
Journals:
AGNI
,
Asia Writes
,
Being
,
Brand
,
Cimarron Review
,
Hotel Amerika
,
Leviathan
,
London Magazine
,
Mizna: Prose, Poetry, Art Exploring Arab America
,
Museum Views
,
NPR
,
Orbis
,
Other Poetry
,
Prole
,
Red Fez
,
The Tower Journal
,
Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature
,
World Literature Today
Prizes won: 

Aphorisms nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Tiferet Journal (2017) // Poetry nominated for Pushcart Prize by World Literature Today (2010)// and by Jam Tarts Magazine (2016) Prose nominated for Best of the Web, Dzanc (2010)// Poetry Finalist, Emerging Writer Fellowship, Fall 2010 (The Writer's Center: www.writer.org)// Signposts to Elsewhere selected for Books of the Year, 2008, by The Independent (UK)and Year in Books, 2007, by The Sun Sentinel (USA)// Films, by Swoon, based on poems of mine, shown at International Festivals: Mountaineer(USA), Experimental Film (Kroatia) Visible Verse (Vancouver) Vimfest (México) and Bideodromo (Spain) all in 2011.// Chosen as a Juror for the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature -widely considered to be the most prestigious international prize after the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Arab American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
Arabic, English
Born in: 
Cairo
Egypt
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 30, 2023