“Rashid's poems are devastating, immediate, angry, and pulsating with an energy that took my breath away.”

Shazaf Fatima Haider

“Forget the milk, get the daffodils and wander into the vivid and wild imaginarium that is the sum of Naima Rashid’s worlds, where you will find a female ancestor who is a" broker of brocades" and a migraine that is a "galloping elephant". Here, to be well behaved is to be a" gladiator trapped in a tiffin", a fallen tooth is "a neat square of absence" on a "window face" of the poet’s son. Shot through this weave like a thread of blood is the pain of migration, exile and being female in a deeply patriarchal society. Parts of The Sum of Worlds will shock you but it is a deeply necessary shock.”

Sophia Naz

“Rashid writes with a direct voice, displaying a rare attachment to ordinary beauties -- lullaby, yarn, silence, souvenirs, grass, sunlight, and the musings on love and loss -- and indeed brings to life (or, to her/our) bones 'a knowledge of rain'. There is defiance as well as longing in these poems that are woven together with the poet's cultural sensibilities.”

Nabina Das

“Sum of Worlds brings together experiences of a life parceled out in the many worlds that boundaries and migrations, custom and convention, choice and accident stage for us. These are unadorned poems of everyday experiences and many voices but smoldering and insurgent in their defiance of cant and thoughtless supposition. They challenge the curbs and constraints of tradition and practice, and the suspicions and divisions the powerplay of family dynamics, colonization, and politics breeds.
Naima Rashid is fearless in exposing the manipulative and suffocating regimens that mark our private and public patterns of living and has an enviable gift of transforming the commonplace and familiar into a metaphorical reflection of profound truths. Her art lies in making the ordinary luminous and vibrant with meaning, and she does this in language that is deceptively simple on its surface. An exhilarating collection shot through with wisdom and insight.”

Waqas Khwaja

“While there is so much to admire in this gorgeous collection of poems, I was most struck by the theme of parenthood that makes its way into many of them—the terrifying joy and heartbreak of it, the unbearability of the role that so many of us bear. From aphoristic little gems to meandering poems that reward patience with insight and wisdom, this collection has it all. It was a thrill to read it.”

Dur e Aziz Amna

“Sum of Worlds by Naima Rashid is a sharp and intricate mosaic of lived experience, shimmering with beauty, pain, and resilience. Both the universal and personal come to life in poems that explore and honor family, the self, faith, culture, and society. Through imagery and language that shock the reader into awareness, Rashid reminds us that the journey towards acceptance and peace is a difficult yet rewarding one.”

Shikha Malaviya

“Naima Rashid’s Sum of Worlds takes readers on a journey through the fabric of human experience, woven as it is with delicate threads of memory, emotion, and introspection. Rashid’s poems paint vivid portraits of characters grappling with the complexities of life, love, and loss. Rather than simply adding up or subtracting her literary realms, the poet instead enters the intimate spaces of individuals whose lives intersect with the fabric of history, tradition, and personal struggle. Through lyrical vignettes, she explores themes of identity, resilience, and the enduring power of human connection. This is recommended reading for poetry lovers.”

Claire Chambers

“I love Naima Rashid’s emotive poetry. Truth is at the very heart of her work and the unusual images she conjures stay with the reader. Her poems reflect plurality both thematically and linguistically because her great subject is humanity itself, with all its complexities and nuances. Her unique idiom is enriched by her multi-lingual aesthetic, which permeates her work.”

Faiqa Mansab