Born Sacred: Poems of Palestine - Reading & Fundraiser for Gaza

Join Massy Books, Fernwood Publishing, Maral Aguilera-Moradipour, and Smokii Sumac for the launch of Born Sacred: Poems of Palestine, November 8th at 7 pm at Massy Books!

Books will be for sale at the event, with 100% of the profits being donated to the Islamic Relief Fund for Gaza.

Registration is free but required.

Venue:

The event will be hosted at Massy Books, 229. E. Georgia St., Vancouver, BC.

The venue has a gender neutral bathroom.

Please refrain from wearing scents or heavy perfumes.

Covid Protocols: Masks keep our community safe and are recommended. We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.

About Born Sacred: Poems of Palestine -

In October 2023, upon witnessing the escalation of Palestinian genocide, Ktunaxa poet Smokii Sumac began writing poems reflecting on the stories of Palestinians in Gaza who were risking their lives to share news of the genocide of Palestinian culture, literature, and life. These 100 poems offer a witnessing of the escalation of colonial violence, both current and historical, across oceans, lands, cultures, and people, and the reckoning one has in the face of a genocide.

Vulnerable, eloquent, compassionate, and enduring, Born Sacred is an in-time reflection honouring the shared histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America and of the people in Palestine. Sumac offers this collection as a small piece of life dedicated to Palestinians and resounds the collective call for solidarity in our shared liberation.

About Smokii Sumac:

Smokii is a Ktunaxa two spirit and trans poet and interdisciplinary artist. His first book you are enough: love poems for the end of the world won an Indigenous voices award, and his second poetry collection Born Sacred: Poems for Palestine came out in April 2025 through Roseway, an imprint of Fernwood Publishing. Smokii lives in ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa with his cats and chickens.

About Maral Aguilera-Moradipour:

Maral Aguilera-Moradipour is an Assistant Professor of Asian refugee literatures and cultures in the Department of World Languages and Literatures and the Global Asia Program. Developing her research at the intersections of Asian, diaspora, and Indigenous literary and cultural studies, she foregrounds the importance of place-based concepts that emerge from such rich and diverse epistemologies and ontologies.

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