Nov 4
We Computers: A Ghazal Novel. A Conversation with Celebrated Author, Hamid Ismailov and his Translator, Shelley Fairweather-Vega
A multilayered exploration of poetry, authorship, and digital intelligence by “a writer of immense poetic power” (The Guardian)
Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award, Translated Literature
“Many paths cross in Ismailov’s beautiful new work—poetry, history and the infinite imagination. Every path winding into another. Every path worth taking.”—Patti Smith
In the late 1980s, French poet and psychologist Jon‑Perse finds himself in possession of one of the most promising inventions of the century: a computer. Enchanted by snippets of Persian poetry he learns from his Uzbek translation partner, Abdulhamid Ismail, Jon-Perse builds a computer program capable of both analyzing and generating literature. But beyond the text on his screen there are entire worlds—of history, philosophy, and maybe even of love—in the stories and people he and AI conjure.
Hamid Ismailov brings together his work as a poet, translator, and student of literature of both East and West to craft a postmodern ode to poetry across centuries and continents. Crossing the poètes maudits with beloved Sufi classics, blending absurdist dreams with the life of the famed Persian poet Hafez, moving from careful mathematical calculations to lyrical narratives, Ismailov invents an ingenious transnational poetics of love and longing for the digital age. Situated at the crossroads of a multilingual world and mediated by the unreliable sensibilities of digital intelligence, this book is a dazzling celebration of how poetry resonates across time and space. -Yale University Press
About our guests:
Hamid Ismailov is one of Central Asia’s most celebrated authors. Born in 1954, he was forced to leave Uzbekistan in 1992. Over the years, he has he has published numerous novels in Russian and Uzbek, while working as a journalist with the BBC World Service and Radio Liberty.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega is a professional translator of Russian and Uzbek residing in Seattle, Washington. She translates poetry, fiction, and scholarly texts at the intersection of culture and politics, with a focus on the contemporary literature of Central Asia. She translated We Computers from the Uzbek.
This event is organized by Middle East Studies and cosponsored by the Wender Fund for Middle Eastern Cultural Understanding, the Humanities Center, Asian Studies, History, Russian, French, and the Middle Eastern Languages program.
from Middle East Studies