NEWS

Spring 2024

I will be teaching ENSH 102: Literature in Action -“Representation and Climate Migration” in the English department at the University of Victoria in the Spring 2024 semester. This course will focus on one novel along with its theatre performance and script. We will read The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019) by Christy Lefteri, its stage script co-written by Nesrin Alrefaai and Matthew Spangler, and watch parts of its theatre performance directed by Miranda Cromwell. 

Thinking through the distinction between adaptation and appropriation, we will critically address the representation of refugees in both a narrative form, a performance text, and a live performance. We will problematize, critique, and consider the representation of displaced and war-driven refugees with an eye on on biodiversity loss and bee colony collapse that direct us to climate change. Our course texts and renderings will prompt us to study an array of topics, from (im)mobility, borders, xenophobia, trauma, mourning, the Anthropocene, and climate change to the power of arts, stage adaptations, and politics of representation. 

More info here.

Fall 2023

In the Fall 2023 semester, I am teaching a first-year course in the English department at the University of Victoria. This course asks how authors deal with, explore, and document the experience of mobility and migration through text. We study examples of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that are written by authors who may or may not be immigrants themselves but engage with the topic through a critical lens.

More info here.

October 26-29, 2023

I have the great opportunity to present my paper “Modernism, Migration, and Precocity in Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners” at the Modernist Studies Association Conference, 2023. 

More information here. 

June 16, 2023

I’m honored to present my creative research “Ulysses in Erasure: The Pleasure of Un-Knowing” at University of Victoria annual Bloomsday Symposium this year! 

You can register for the symposium here.

Follow the event's page on Twitter and Instagram. 

May 27-30, 2023

I will present my paper "Poetry As a Way of Happening” at Congress 2023 on Sunday May 28, at 1:30 pm.

I'm also honored to chair the "Critical Refugee and Migration Studies" panel on Monday May 29, at 3:30pm.

ACCUTE’s Conference (Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English) will take place in-person at York University in Toronto from 27-30 May 2023.

More info here.

May 14 , 2023

Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm (PT)

I'm honoured to read some of Forugh Farrokhzad's poetry at the Massy Arts Gallery on Sunday, May 14th. More info here.

Registration is free, open to all and required for entrance.  Please register here. 

February 9, 2023

Time: 6:30pm (PT)

"Co-hosted with the Malahat Review, five Humanities poets find new light in dark times through the written word..." More info here.

I am excited to be reading some of my poems at this event and share my way of finding light in dark times. 

Please tune in and register here.

January 9, 2023

As part of the larger project of "Out of Ireland and Into 2022 - Ulysses on the High Seas Again" at University of Victoria (English Department), I am pleased to share a recently published podcast episode on Joyce's significance in a global context. 

Listen to a conversation with Farima Tolu, Dr. Matt Huculak, and me on Manuchehr Badiee’s translation of James Joyce’s Ulysses into Persian and Tolu's documentary "The Legend of Ulysses: An Iranian Destiny" here.

November 1 - 3, 2022

I am delighted to accompany Dr. Stephen Ross at the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) conference in Montréal this year. 

Dr. Ross, winner of 2021 Dr. Suning Wang award for outstanding graduate mentorship, and I will moderate a roundtable discussion entitled, "Excellence in Graduate Mentorship." 

For the conference agenda and schedule of events, visit CAGS website here. 

September 29, 2022

I am delighted that I've been nominated for a membership with the League of Canadian Poets! The LCP is the national association of professional publishing and spoken word poets.

More info about LCP and member directory: here.

June 24, 2022

I will present my paper “Surviving the Ruins with Pessimism” online at the conference of the British Association for Modernist Studies on Friday, June 24. 

You may find more info about the schedule here. 

June 22, 2022

I was invited by poet Isabella Wang to submit some poems to the online bookshelf of poetry in Canada. I am thrilled that three of my works are featured as part of this larger project that is archiving poetry written in Canada. 

Read more here. 

June 10, 2022

On Friday (June 10), I presented my paper “A Perspective to Explore Epistemic Injustices: Coulthardian Self-recognition” as part of DHSI 2022: Conference & Colloquium. 

More info here. 

May 2022

I will be reading from my recently published chapbook In-Between (above / ground press) at This Gallery on May 14. 

TIME: Saturday, May 14 | 12 – 2 pm

LOCATION: This Gallery | 227– 475 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 2T7, Canada

May 2022

Moderated by Stephen Ross, May 6th Poetry Reading will feature Nicholas Bradley, Iain Higgins, and Kevin Spenst.

Maleea Acker & Saba Pakdel will launch their recent publications in this event.

TIME: Friday, May 6 | 2 – 4 pm

LOCATION: IN-PERSON: UVic | Clearihue Building | Room C214

VIRTUAL: Zoom | Meeting ID: 822 5183 1929 | Passcode: 201520

Light refreshments will be served.

The event is free and open to the public. | For more information, email spakdel@uvic.ca 

April 2022

Read about Dr. Stephen Ross (my PhD program supervisor at UVic) winner of the 2021 Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship.

More info here.

Photo credit: UVic Photo Services

April 2022

The Université Laval Graduate Conference for English Literature (ULGCEL): 

Paper Title: “Surviving the Ruins with Pessimism: A  Comparative Study of Anna Lowenhaupt  Tsing’s Conception of the Ruins and Eugene Thacker’s Pessimism”

September 2021

An interview with Simon Fraser University: Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies after receiving two donor-funded awards, the Temple Maynard Graduate Scholarship and the Aphra Behn Graduate Scholarship in English. 

Read more here.

July 2021

Saba Pakdel is offered a place in Summer Writers Session 2021 (online) at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity which is a 7-day writing program instructed by Jordan Abel and Kaie Kellough from August 7 to 13, 2021.