Pele Voncujovi read Kazim Ali’s “Origin Story” on November 10, as part of an NER Out Loud event at Middlebury College. “Origin Story” was originally published in NER Vol. 38, No. 1 (2017) and is available to read online here.

Pele Voncujovi ’19 was born in Japan to Ghanaian father and a Japanese mother. His family moved to Ghana when he was nine months old and lived there for most of Pele’s childhood. When he was sixteen, he went to the United World College in Costa Rica for the last two years of high school and now he’s here. Pele was never a big fan of poetry growing up, but after doing Oratory Now, he began to appreciate it a lot more and is trying to challenge himself with this opportunity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom to Muslim parents of Indian, Iranian, and Egyptian descent. He received a BA and MA from the University of Albany-SUNY, and an MFA from New York University. His books include several volumes of poetry and the cross-genre text Bright Felon. His novels include The Secret Room: A String Quartet and among his books of essays is Fasting for Ramadan: Notes from a Spiritual Practice. Ali is an associate professor of Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at Oberlin College. His new book of poems, Inquisition, and a new hybrid memoir, Silver Road: Essays, Maps & Calligraphies, will both be released in 2018.