taught at the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at University of Massachusetts Amherst, at the MFA Writing Seminars at Bennington College as well as at creative writing programs at University of Utah, Baruch College, Warren Wilson College, Hamilton College and New York University. Personal life Ali never married. He was gay. Bibliography This list represents the published output of Ali, arranged in chronological order and sorted by the manner in which he contributed to the work in question. Poetry Bone Sculpture (1972), In Memory of Begum Akhtar and Other Poems (1979), The Half-Inch Himalayas (1987), A Walk Through the Yellow Pages (1987), A Nostalgist's Map of America (1991), The Beloved Witness: Selected Poems (1992), The Country Without a Post Office (1997), Rooms Are Never Finished (2001), Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals (2003). Translations and edited volumes Translator, The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1992), Editor, Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English (2000). Influences Ali was deeply moved by the music of Begum Akhtar. The two had met through a friend of Akhtar's when Ali was a teenager and her music became a lasting presence in his life. Features of her ghazal rendition—such as wit, wordplay and nakhra (affectation)—were present in Ali's poetry as well. However, Amitav Ghosh suspects that the strongest connection between the two rose from the idea that "sorrow has no finer mask than a studied lightness of manner"—traces of which were seen in Ali's and Akhtar's demeanor in their respective lives. Awards Pushcart Prize Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Fellowship Ingram-Merrill Foundation Fellowship New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Notes References Further reading 'I Write on that Void: Kashmir, Kaschmir, Cashmere, Qashmir' – Remembering Agha Shahid Ali The Wire Looking for Shahid The Hindu Eric Pace (26 December 2001) Agha Shahid Ali, 52, a Poet Who Had Roots in Kashmir The New York Times Brief biography at the University of Massachusetts How the legendary Begum Akhtar influenced the life and poetry of Agha Shahid Ali External links Agha Shahid Ali at Poets.org Agha Shahid Ali at the Poetry Foundation Agha Shahid Ali prize, University of Utah Press 'I swear...I have my hopes: Agha Shahid Ali's Delhi Years', Kafila.org 'The Veilied Suite: The Collected Poems by Agha Shahid Ali' biblio-india.org, March–April 2010. 1949 births 2001 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century English male writers 20th-century Indian poets