Bright Felon has been called a “fascinating work, brimming with bold meditations on religion, sexuality and what it means to live the life of an artist,” which “carries through its politics a grace and generosity.” Its author, Kazim Ali, “has quietly emerged as one of the indispensable voices of our time.” Born from a need to speak in the face of silence, the book is truly without genre. Equal parts poetry, essay, and autobiography, Bright Felon is a narrative that moves in reverse, always writing the self even as time flows backward. Personal history flows through the cities and towns which structure Ali’s work, and as the reader travels through it, a compelling personal portrait emerges–even if that portrait exists only in fragments, traces and whispers.
This website is structured as online companion for careful readers and teachers of Ali’s work. On it, you will find reviews and analysis of Bright Felon, an interview with Kazim Ali, as well as other works of his which clarify his poetics and politics, and a reading list that contains works which inspired the text or may help to illuminate it in new ways.
To order a copy of Bright Felon, visit the book site, here.
If you have any questions or experience problems with our site, please contact selliott@wesleyan.edu.
Bright Felon was published with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts.