POEMS IN GLASS: HASNA SAL

HASNA SAL is our second Poet in Resident with Flying Ketchup Press, a biannual program that connects a regional artist/advocate with a poetry mentorship and developmental editing, resulting in a unique poetry collection.  Our residence allows artists the time to work on the interiority, energy and motivation of their advocacy work in the Kansas City Regional area. Hasna Sal installed the first outdoor National Memorial to bring awareness to victims and survivors of human trafficking. Her first Solo Collection of Poetry will be published in 2021 by Flying Ketchup Press's poetry imprint, Salt & Fig Books.

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POEMS IN GLASS is a uniquely original book--part memoir, part revelation. Through the panes, poems, and practice of glass artist, Hasna Sal, you'll find the heart of a poet. "From the pulse of a small city park at dusk, one artist is forever changed." Hasna's insistence that the "artist's role is to bring awareness" sounds simple enough, until we each walk the "bed of shards." From a local doctor and his family in crisis, to the invisible victims of trafficking, to the weary student in need of spiritual sustenance, Hasna explores both outer and inner sanctums and our deepest needs for spirit and light. Illustrated with her brilliantly cast un-paned glass art, Hasna's lyrical verse harkens back to the form of Sufi poets--the warmth of bygone days where color brings visceral emotion and therapeutic energy to the mind and body. Color is the elixir of life, Sal says,  Read Hasna's stories and poetry as she lets color serenade her narratives through art and verse. (Find more on our Poet in Residence Page.)

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HASNA SAL credits her graduate work in landscape architecture from Harvard with the foundation of her current work in glass sculpture. She apprenticed under artists in England and Wales and earned her five-year NAAB-accredited professional degree in architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. She calls herself a raconteur–bringing to light stories that are overlooked, forgotten or uncomfortable to view with her sculptural glass and light installations. A lifelong poet, she debuts her first book of poetry in, Poems in Glass. With a diploma from the London School of Journalism, she synthesizes personal narratives, poetry, and art to communities her unique, creative placemaking and social reforms.

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