About the Author\nAfeefah Khazi-Syed, Aleena Shabbir, Ayse Guvenilir, Maisha M. Prome, Mariam Dogar, and Marwa Abdulhai met as undergrads at MIT, where they often wrote poetry in each others dorm rooms. Now, they're scattered across the country for graduate studies as they train to be doctors, engineers, mathematicians, and scientists. While the six write poetry from different backgrounds and expertise, they share the common goals of redefining literary spaces and breaking barriers through poetry. The poets hope their anthology will foster empathy and mutual reciprocity for the many intersectional facets they encapsulate.\nSix Muslim women. One poetry collection exploring family, identity, and homeland.\nOur Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air brings fresh voices of poignancy and a much-needed representation in modern poetry. From the scents of a bustling street market in India to the warmth of stories rooted in Venezuela to snippets of college days shared at MIT, the poetry in this book features an ache for grounds no longer walked upon. With a range of distinct styles and voices, the poets’ nuanced self-expression amounts to a piece that is both a prayer and a rebellion. Their words, introspective and reminiscing, witty and thoughtful, are an ode to that which makes them who they are and where they come from. Simultaneously, their voices are a rejection of dangerous stigmas, cultural taboos, and oppressive systems. In both verse and image, Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air is a bold and unfiltered collection recounting moments, tears, and dreams that have been generations in the making. The poems in this collection are accompanied by full-color illustrations and photographs.

Our Ancestors Did Not Breathe This Air

Literature & Fiction

Khazi-Syed, Afeefah

Shabbir, Aleena

Angela Guvenilir, Ayse

Munawwara Prome, Maisha

Eman Dogar, Mariam

Abdullhai, Marwa

Poetry

BELTWAY EDITIONS

Throughout 2021, as COVID and climate change battled for supremacy in the hearts and minds of the world, American poet Heather Bourbeau and Irish-Australian poet Anne Casey engaged in a poetry conversation back and forth across the globe, alternating each week, to create 52 poems over 52 weeks. With poems anchored in their gardens, they buoyed each other through lockdowns and exile from family, through devastating floods, fires, wild winds and superstorms. Some Days The Bird, a collection of internationally recognized and award-winning poems, is the result of their weekly communiqués from different hemispheres (and opposing seasons) in verse.

Some Days The Bird

Casey, Anne

Bourbeau, Heather

Diving At The Lip Of the Water

Poppy, Karen

Say It Again

Michael Lally

The New Gods

Education & Teaching

William O'Daly

Higher & Continuing Education

A book of elegies inspired by the poet's late twin brother Joe and others.

Two Novembers: A Memoir of Love 'n' Sex in Sonnets

Liza Achilles

Parenting & Relationships

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Books by BELTWAY EDITIONS