Ali Sobati

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT ALI SOBATI

I am an interdisciplinary professional working across literary studies, hospitality, social advocacy, and translation—with over fifteen years of experience navigating the intersections of culture, crisis, and community. Trained in English Literature (BA, MA, PhD ABD), my academic practice spans trauma studies, modernist poetics, and comparative literary criticism across Persian and Western traditions. I specialize in the politics of form, cross-cultural translation, and the ethics of representation, informed by a critical and psychoanalytic lens.Alongside academic work, I have over five years of frontline hospitality experience. From 2023 to 2025, I managed and developed programming at Arch Café-Bar in Toronto, helping evolve it from a daytime venue into a high-traffic cultural bar that hosted poetry readings, DJ sets, and Middle Eastern arts events. I introduced Persian-inspired mixology, trained staff, ensured Smart Serve and health code compliance, and supported operational improvements that contributed to a 4.7-star Google rating.I hold multiple industry certifications, including Smart Serve, WHMIS, and Food Handler Safety, combining technical proficiency with event-based service leadership. My hospitality practice is grounded not only in operational skill but in cultural fluency and community engagement.My background also includes community-led teaching, social mobilization, and emergency response. I co-founded grassroots education projects like Parallel Academy for banned students in Iran and coordinated disaster relief efforts for major crises, including the Kermanshah Earthquake and Golestan floods. As an organizer of Farsi School Poetry, I helped revive Persian poetic activism through public performance and critical dialogue.I am also an internationally published translator, with contributions spanning legal, academic, and literary texts. My recent work includes co-editing Hairan: Poems of Hair and Freedom by Iranian Women (Scotland Street Press, 2024) and translating Wallace Stevens and C.S. Lewis into Farsi. My bilingual work consistently bridges textual analysis with real-world relevance—whether in the classroom, the café, or the community.Fluent in English and Persian, with additional working knowledge of French, Arabic, and German, I bring a multilingual and transdisciplinary approach to every space I work in. I remain committed to building cultural infrastructure that resists erasure, supports equity, and centers lived experience.