Catharsis Conference, April 2025
Zolaykha Sherzad in conversation with Claude Grunitzky, poetry performance by Haleh Liza Gafori (Tuesday, April 15, 2025).
Zolaykha Sherzad was born in Kabul and raised in exile in Switzerland where she studied architecture. Eventually settling in New York, she co-founded an award-winning architecture firm, ARX. From 1998 to 2003, she taught architecture at the Pratt Institute of Architecture while simultaneously training as a fashion designer. In 2005, Zolaykha founded Zarif Design, a fashion and fine crafts company based in Kabul. Zarif, which means “delicate,” “fine,” “precious”, reflects the rich Afghan cultural heritage of traditional silk weaving, chapan-striped cotton and embroidery. Zolaykha was the designer in residence at Atelier Jolie in March and April 2025.
Haleh Liza Gafori is a NY-born poet, translator, and performance artist of Iranian descent. Her acclaimed books of translations of Rumi’s poetry, Gold (2022) and the soon-to-be-released 2nd volume, Water (2025), have been published by New York Review Books/ NYRB Classics. A 2024 MacDowell fellow, her work has been published by Paris Review, Harvard Review, Columbia University Press, Lit Hub, the Brooklyn Rail, and others. Weaving poems, commentary, and song, she has presented her work at Stanford University, Lincoln Center, the Academy of American Poets, Le Poisson Rouge, and elsewhere.