“All this waiting.Waiting for the rain to stop. Waiting in traffic. Waiting for the bill. Waiting at the airport for an old friend.Waiting to depart. Then, there’s the big waiting: waiting to grow up. Waiting for love. Waiting to show youryour parents that when you have kids you’ll be different. Waiting to retire. Waiting for death. Why do we think waitingis the antithesis of lifewhen it is almostall of it?”

writer, poet, and academic

Kamand Kojouri is a writer, poet, and academic, and a fellow of the Emirates Literature Foundation. She is known for her poetry and prose, and for two poetry collections, The Eternal Dance and God, Does Humanity Exist? Her poems and short stories have appeared in anthologies and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her work has also been featured in El País, The Irish Times, and BBC Persian Television. Her poem “Let My Silence Grow” was later adapted into a chorale composition by Zachary J. Moore and performed internationally, including by the Luther College Nordic Choir.