Philly-Based Poet Shares Struggle of Being Queer in the Middle East in New Book


Nalla, an author currently based in Philadelphia, is revealing her experience being queer in the Middle East in a new book. “Faces,” a collection of poems, describes Nalla’s struggles from his perspective, walking the reader through his difficult journey. The poems also meditate on love and life but mainly focus on the daily confusion and inner conflict Nalla faced while living in different countries in the Middle East.

Sure to be an emotional journey for any reader, Nalla’s poems are expressive of the rejection he has suffered and the love he found along the way. Available through indie publisher Lulu, Faces features a beautiful sketch on its cover that Nalla fell in love with online, then tracked down and obtained the rights to use it for this book. While you wait for your copy of this powerful poetry to ship (just $14, by the way) check out some of Nalla’s work online.