معرفی
Yahya Ashour is an incoming Visiting Assistant Professor of English and world literature at Pitzer College, joining the spring 2025 semester as part of the College's initiative to welcome Palestinian faculty. An exiled Gazan poet, he uses creative writing to document life under Israel's 17-year blockade of Gaza and the ongoing genocide.
His research centers on Palestinian literary resistance, with a focus on Gaza's cultural trauma. Ashour explores how poetry functions as both survival mechanism and historical testimony in besieged environments, examining Arabic-English translation as a tool for amplifying Palestinian narratives globally. His work bridges creative practice with urgent political commentary on cultural erasure.
Awarded the University of Iowa's Honorary Fellowship in 2022, Ashour's poetry has been translated into Spanish, French, Japanese, and Bengali. He actively mentors emerging Gazan writers and advocates for academic boycotts of Israeli institutions complicit in the cultural siege of Palestine.
Ashour directs significant creative energy toward student engagement, having mentored youth in Gaza through cultural organizations and planning two Pitzer courses: Finding Gaza (transforming historical narratives into poetry) and Poetic Arts (integrating world culture with poetry). He will also guest-edit a Mizna journal issue featuring Gazan artists.
