Sculpture, Anaphora, & Writing by Hourglass w/ Hajer Mirwali

In this interview, we chat with Hajer Mirwali about cross-disciplinary work, embodied writing, poetic mad libs,  and so much more.  

Hajer Mirwali is a Palestinian and Iraqi writer living in Toronto. Her first book, Revolutions (Talonbooks, 2025), is a collection of poetry on shame, pleasure, and Arab Muslim girlhood. Two poems from the collection also appear in an anthology of Palestinian poetry called Heaven Looks Like Us (Haymarket Books, 2025). Hajer’s work has been published in The Ex-Puritan, Brick Magazine, Room Magazine, and Joyland. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph, and a BA in Creative Writing from York University.

Books mentioned in this episode:  

• Trust Exercise — Susan Choi 
• The Butterfly's Burden — Mahmoud Darwish 
• Junie B. Jones series — Barbara Park 
• Who by Fire; Who by Water — Greg Rhyno 
• Harry Potter series — J. K. Rowling