On Nuar Alsadir

It is my pleasure to nominate Nuar Alsadir. I have been a great admirer of her work for many years now. With echoes of Rumi and Hafiz, her poems are a delicate mix of the quotidian and the profound. In witty, vibrant, always surprising turns, she reveals to us the weight of each fleeting moment. I am also a fan of her non-fiction writing, most recently a beautifully written essay for The New York Times Magazine about her experience as an Iraqi-American living in this time of war. In it, she described the confusing responses her split-identity inspires in others, as well as in herself. It was a powerful piece, and decidedly poetic in its insistence on the complex humanity of all parties involved. Nuar is on the verge of launching an important career.

—Danzy Senna, author of the novel Causasia. Senna was awarded a 2002 Whiting Award, and teaches at the College of the Holy Cross.