Moez Surani’s poetry and short stories have been published in a number of literary journals. He completed undergraduate studies at Queen’s University followed by an M.A. in English language and literature and creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal in 2005. His thesis is entitled The Legend of Baraffo. Surani now lives in Toronto. His current focus is upon performance art, collaborations and interdisciplinary art. Surani’s ancestral roots extend to the Ismaili communities of East Africa and the Punjab. Photograph courtesy of Moez Surani.
Poetry (Chapbook)
Cairo
[Victoria, BC?]: La Mano Izquierda/Left Hand Press, 2009.
Limited edition of 100 copies.
Poetry (Folded leaflet)
Every Day I Was in Love (Even Though I Didn’t Say So)
Banff, Canada: No Press, 2019.
Edition of 50.
Poetry
Floating Life
Hamilton, Ont.: Wolsak and Wynn, 2012.
PS8637 .U74 F56 2012
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Floating Life, Moez Surani’s second collection of poetry, takes the reader on a dizzying tour of the world, stopping in Cairo, Muju, Madrid and Cape Breton. Interwoven through these evocative glimpses of places and the people that live in them are poems exploring relationships, reflecting on identity and considering the passing of time.
Poetry
Ḥamlah, Operación, Opération, Operation, Xing Dong, operat︠s︡ii︠a
Alternate title: Operations.
Toronto: Book Thug, 2016.
PS8637 .U74 H34 2016
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
[A] book-length poetic inventory of contemporary rhetoric of violence and aggression, as depicted through the evolution of the language used to name the many military operations conducted by UN Member Nations since the organization’s inception in 1945.
…
By pulling military language away from euphemism—effectively, making it account for its doublespeaking ways— ةيلمع Operación Opération Operation 行动 Oперация documents the chasm that exists between these two sets of values, and gives voice to the many lives lost in conflicts around the world, in a volume that will speak equally to lovers of contemporary poetry, language, and linguistics, as to readers interested in politics, international relations, and public discourse.
Poetry
Reticent Bodies
Hamilton, Ont.: Wolsak and Wynn, 2009.
PS8637 .U74 R48 2009
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Reticent Bodies is Toronto author Moez Surani’s long-awaited debut collection. Shaped by a childhood spent listening to a mixture of Gujarati, Kutchi, Urdu and Swahili around the kitchen table, while attending a French Immersion school in Toronto, Surani’s poems could define the epitome of Canada’s ethnic layering. Spare Canadian lyricism is combined with unusual linguistic rhythms and sharp bursts of vibrant imagery in an exceptional poetic debut.
Poetry (Chapbook)
The Viscount’s Goats
With illustrations by Clarabella Yim.
Montreal: Delirium Press, 2004.
Fiction
The Legend of Baraffo
Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2023.
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
In Baraffo, a town gripped by revolutionary fervour, a boy named Mazzu grapples to understand the motivations of Babello, a man imprisoned for an act of arson. When Babello begins a hunger strike and another building is set ablaze, tensions mount among the citizens and Mazzu considers a risky solution.
Within an extraordinary world, this sweeping and mythical story asks prescient questions about the nature of social change: is it better accelerated by those who seek total transformation or attained by those trying to work within the system?
Anthology (Poetry)
Tok. Book 4
Surani, Moez. “Poems.” In Tok. Book 4, edited by Helen Walsh. Toronto: Zephyr Press, 2009, 81-83.
Anthology (Poetry)
Tok. Book 7
Surani, Moez. “Toronto/Week.” In Tok. Book 7, edited by Helen Walsh. Toronto: Zephyr Press, 2012, 45-48.
Anthology (Short story)
Surani, Moez. “The Beauty Hunter.” In Fables for the 21st Century. Banff: Banff Centre Press, 2018, 89-95.
Links
Moez Surani personal website
Publisher Book*hug (formerly Book Thug)
Publisher Wolsak and Wynn
Publisher La Mano Izquierda/Left Hand Press