Texas Nafas
founder, Farid Mohammadi, was a finalist for the Humanities Texas
Award. In her nomination of Mr. Mohammadi, Dr. Betty Sue Flowers,
wrote: "I find it remarkable that someone of Iranian origin is helping
Texans come to a greater appreciation of their own poetic heritage."
For a photo and more about the award, click here.
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Nafas, in
Middle-Eastern languages, is the word for ‘breath’ and a metaphor for
spirit or life.
Texas Nafas airs on channel 10 &
16 @ varying hours . Please go to www.channelaustin.org
and click on programming for exact air time. |
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Poetry on DVD
For over a decade, Texas Nafas has been
producing high quality DVDs in addition to its made for television
programming. They include the Poetry Journal series of
educational DVDs, wherein two distinguished scholars discuss and recite
from the works of acclaimed poets, and the equally informative and
entertaining readings of Rumi by Robert Bly, Coleman Barks and Naomi
Shihab Nye.
Click here
to view some clips.
See also our clips on YouTube!
Click here for more information about these
treasures and to learn how to get your personal copy.
Click here for more
information about these treasures and to learn how to get your personal
copy.
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Mission
The mission of Texas Nafas is to nurture the
soul of mankind through poetry. Our earnest desire is that poetry
should be more widely read, written, performed, published, celebrated,
recognized, and praised. We bring poetry to new audiences through
television, create educational videos to increase the understanding of
poetry, and bring poetry to life through exciting performances.
Our work honors excellence in the poetry of all cultures.
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Founder Farid Mohammadi
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Philosophy
Poetry is the language of the heart, and of the
highest impulse of the spirit in all cultures. To live closely
with poetry is to exercise the very best in our being.
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I give you the end
of a golden string,
Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at heaven's gate
Built in Jerusalem's Wall.
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William Blake
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History
Texas
Nafas originated in 1997 when Farid Mohammadi first videotaped readings
at the Austin International Poetry Festival for up to fifteen hours a
day and interviewed poets over breakfast. Mohammadi received so
much interest from the Austin poetry community that he immediately
began organizing volunteers to help in the production of a television
show. By July of 1997, Mohammadi had produced four episodes and
was committed to a weekly broadcast schedule that has continued
unbroken since then.
In 2004, Texas Nafas presented its first live public reading in Austin,
hosting Robert Bly and Naomi Shihab Nye to the delight of an audience
of over 500. The success of the program made history for the
poetry community in Austin and was repeated the next year when we
presented a reading by Coleman Barks to an audience of almost
1000.
To make its work more widely available, Texas Nafas produces quality
DVDs of its best programming. Our first effort, featuring Robert
Bly and Naomi Shihab Nye, was honored by a special recommendation from
NPR. One of our most ambitious DVD projects is Poetry
Journal, a twelve-part series of lively scholarly discussion on master
poets whose work is the core of education on poetry in America.
Texas Nafas was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1998, and
has received support from the City of Austin Arts Commission regularly
since then.
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The original Texas
Nafas team was based in Austin, Texas, and put many hours and many
miles travel behind them to make poetry accessible to a mass audience.
Thank you.
Texas Nafas was organized and is operated principally by its Executive
Director and Producer, Farid Mohammadi.
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