Yahia Lababidi

Yahia Lababidi is an Arab-American writer of Palestinian heritage and the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, aphorisms, and prose. His work places Islamic mysticism in conversation with Western philosophy, exploring enduring questions of love, conscience, suffering, and spiritual awakening.

His forthcoming book Wherever You Are: Essays from East to West (Ayin Press, 2026) is now available for pre-order. A cross-cultural meditation on art, faith, and moral imagination, it gathers reflections on figures ranging from Nietzsche and Kafka to Rumi, Ghazali, and the poets of Palestine.

Recent books include On the Contrary: Wilde and Nietzsche (Fomite Press, 2025), a lyrical meditation on two kindred contrarians, and What Remains To Be Said (Wild Goose Publications, 2025), a gathering of three decades of aphorisms. Poetry from his collection Palestine Wail (Daraja Press, 2024) was twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize and translated into multiple languages.

Lababidi’s writing has appeared in Liberties, Salmagundi, The Threepenny Review, Sojourners, World Literature Today, The New Arab, and DAWN, among others, and has been featured on PBS NewsHour, NPR, and On Being. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he has served as a juror for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and as a judge for the PEN/Heim Translation Fund.

His work has been translated into numerous languages and anthologized internationally. He has spoken at Oxford University and appeared at literary festivals across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and India.