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New Dominion Bookshop to host reading with Wajahat Ali and Fernando Valverde

Crystal Graham
Wajahat Ali
Submitted, Wajahat Ali

New Dominion Bookshop will host an in-person reading and book signing with writer Wajahat Ali and poet and UVA professor Fernando Valverde on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 4 p.m.

Ali will be reading from his new book, Go Back To Where You Came From: And, Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American.

Valverde will be reading from his recent work.

This in-person event is free to attend and open to the public.

Ali is a New York Times contributing writer, recovering attorney and tired dad. His first book, Go Back To Where You Came From: And, Other Helpful Recommendations on Becoming American, was published in January 2022 by Norton.

His work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and other outlets. He is currently a Western States Center senior fellow for the Common Good Program & Leadership Initiative to Combat Antisemitism and a senior fellow at Auburn Seminary.

Ali lives in Washington, D.C.

Fernando Valverde
Submitted, Fernando Valverde

Valverde is one of the preeminent poets writing in the Spanish language today, and he has received international acclaim for his contributions to the art of poetry.

Before coming to the U.S., Valverde served as a foreign correspondent for Spain’s major paper, El Pais, covering war zones in the Balkans and the Middle East.

In 2014, his book The Insistence of Harm received the Book of the Year award from the Latino American Writers Institute at CUNY.

His most recent bilingual book, America, was translated by poet Carolyn Forché and published by Copper Canyon Press.

In Spanish, Desgracia (Visor) is his most recent book.

He has been the director of the International Festival of Poetry in Granada, and he is currently teaching poetry at the University of Virginia. .

New Dominion Bookshop is located at 404 E Main St. in Charlottesville.

For more information, visit ndbookshop.com.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.