About

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I’m a mother of a smart and energetic eleven-year-old. I started expressing myself creatively since 2017. Since then I have been continuously inspired by events in my life which have helped me in penning my thoughts. I’m an avid reader, loves to sing, an ardent lover of poetry, and sometimes can scribble a few lines too. I love to dance in the rain, have an undying love for nature, and can watch the beautiful sunset for hours.

I have worked in the IT field for almost a decade as a manager, worked crazy hours, and traveled around the world. In that busy schedule, I never got the time to creatively express my thoughts. Now every time I finish a poem, free verse anything it fills me with so much happiness and excitement and a feeling to have created something of my own.

Here is my listing as a poet in the Directory of Poets and Writers ( Pw.Org)

Certificate of Excellence by the Office of Mayor, Steven Fulop for the Walk_Bye Exhibit displayed outside the City Hall, Jersey City.

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Certificate for inclusion as a member in the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW)

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Biography

Short Bio:

Megha Sood is a Pushcart Nominated Award-Winning Poet, Editor, Author, and Literary Activist based in New Jersey, USA. She is an Associate Editor at MookyChick(UK), Life and Legends (USA), and Literary Partner in the project “Life in Quarantine” with Stanford University, USA. Advocacy Member of United Nations Association (UNS-USA Chapter). Works featured in journals, including Poetry Society of New York, New York Public Library zine, NPR, WNYC Studio, PBS American Portrait, American Writers Review, Stanford Daily, Kissing Dynamite, Rising Phoenix Review, and many more. Advocacy Member of United Nations Association- US Chapter (UNA-USA), Member of National League of American Pen Women ( NLAPW), Member of Women’s National Book Associations (WNBA)

Author of Chapbook ( “My Body is Not an Apology”, Finishing Line Press, 2021) and Full Length (“My Body Lives Like a Threat”, FlowerSongPress,2022).Co-Editor of anthologies ( “The Medusa Project”, Mookychick) and (“The Kali Project, Indie Blu(e) Press).

Recipient of Poet Fellowship 2021 MVICW (Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing), 2020 National Level Winner Spring Mahogany Lit Prize, and Three-Time State-level winner of NJ Poetry Contest. Recipient of  “Certificate of Excellence” from Mayor, Stephen Fulop, Jersey City. New Jersey. 

Performing venues includes New York Poetry Festival, Hoboken Library, Hoboken Historical Museum, Nuyorican Cafe, Hudson County Community College, In Full color, BrownStone Poets, Walk_Bye, OceanSide Library, Jersey City Historic Apple Tree House, Arts House, Jersey City, Poetry Festival including “Anantha” by Samyukta Poetry, Jersey City Poetry Festival, Newark Arts Festival, Culver Book Festival, Paterson Poetry Festival, Culver Book Festival, New Orleans Poetry Festival, Hartford Book Festival, FEMINEN Arts Turkey festival, SETU Women Poets Festival, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA), Women’s National Book Association, When People Speak, When Women Speak and many more. Blogs at https://meghasworldsite.wordpress.com/.Tweets at @meghasood16.

Long Bio:

Megha Sood is a New Jersey-based Pushcart Nominated Award-winning poet, editor, author, blogger, and literary activist. She earned her Postgraduate Degree in Computer Application (M.C.A)and Bachelors in Computer Sciences (B.Sc.) from India. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor for the UK-based Arts and Literary Journal MookyChick, Literary Partner in the “Life in Quarantine” Project by Stanford University, USA, and Associate Editor with Literary Journal “Life and Legends”. She is the author of a chapbook (“A Potpourri of Emotions”, Local Gems Press, NY). Chapbook ( “My Body is Not An Apology”, Finishing Line Press, 2021) and Full Length ( “My Body Lives Like a Threat”, Flower Song Press,2021). She co-edited anthologies (“The Medusa Project”, Mookychick) and ( “The Kali Project”, Indie Blu(e) Press). She is also the Associate Editor for the upcoming Brownstone Poets Anthology 2022 managed by Patricia Carragon.

Her debut editorial anthology The Medusa Project” has recently been selected as the digital payload to be sent to the moon in 2023 as part of the “Polaris” collection of the LunarCodex Project in collaboration with NASA/SpaceX and Astrobotics Technology. The curator and founder of the project, Dr. Samuel Peralta is responsible for sending the works of almost 6000+ creatives and one A. I  was a part of the most expansive project to the moon vis three different lunar capsules.

“My Body Lives Like a Threat” has been chosen as a semifinalist for the “Shirley Holden Grant for Women Writers” by the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW). “The Kali Project” has been a finalist in the 15th Annual Indie Excellence Book Awards.  Her Chapbook ” My Body Is Not an Apology” was ranked at no5  in the Asian American Poetry on Amazon US in October2021.  She has been nominated twice for Pushcart Prize in 2020 and 2021. She is also a recipient of the 2021 Poet Fellowship from Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing ( MVICW).

She is also an advocacy member for the United Nations Associations-US Chapter(UNA-US). She is also a member of the Women National Book Association (WNBA) and the National League of American Pen Women. (NLAPW)

Her poetry was recently published in the December Newsletter “NOW” of FAO ( Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations) in honor of the World Food Day 2021. In addition, for each poem submitted, 10 tree seedlings were purchased on the poet’s behalf by Ms. Rebecca Roach and planted around the world by the Eden Reforestation Projects which employs local stakeholders in areas impacted by deforestation and poverty. Almost 1200 seedlings were donated on behalf of the poets whose work was submitted to the project. Her poetry was published alongside Ellen Bass, Lauren Mukamal Camp, Ellihaj Pringle, and many more.

Her 800+ works have been featured internationally in literary journals, magazines, anthologies, newspapers, radio stations, podcasts like Rising Phoenix Review, SONKU, National BEAT Poetry Foundation, Better than Starbucks, Poetry Society of New York,PW.org, Broadway World, New York Public Library(NYPL), WNYC Studios, BlogTalkRadio Show WOW(Wow of Women) Podcast, Pandora Peoples RadioShow on 92.1 FM, New Provincetown, MA and 93.1 FM New Orleans, USA. HUDSON Reporter, NJ.COM/Jersey Journal, New Jersey Stage, Somerville Times, Poets Wear Prada Podcast, UK-based Eat the Storms, Philadelphia Enquirer, LILIPOH, PBS American Portrait, WNYC Studios, Kissing Dynamite, American Writers Review, Dime show review, and many more. 

Performing venues includes New York Poetry Festival, Nuyorican Cafe, Hudson County Community College, In Full color, BrownStone Poets, Walk_Bye, OceanSide Library, Jersey City Historic Apple Tree House, Arts House, Jersey City, Poetry Festival including “Anantha” by Samyukta Poetry, Jersey City Poetry Festival, Newark Arts Festival, Paterson Poetry Festival, Culver Book Festival, New Orleans Poetry Festival, Hartford Book Festival, FEMINEN Arts Turkey festival, SETU Women Poets Festival, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA), Women’s National Book Association, When People Speak, When Women Speak and many more.

She was the panelist at the #AWP22  ( Association of Writers and Writing Program ) conference for the event “Creative Activism in Words & Action: Writers & Activists at the United Nations” on behalf of Life and Legends. Fellow panelists include Rachel Pittman, Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA); Dunya Mikhail, Kresge Fellowship, and the United Nations Human Rights Award for Freedom recipient; Christopher Merrill: Poet, writer, and the director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and Kalpna Singh-Chitnis: EIC and Founder of Life and Legends and Silent River Film Festival.

She has been Poetry Judge for the 2020 SLAM Poetry competition, IITD (Institute of Information Technology-Delhi) Kaizen’21, and the 2021 State level NAMI NJ Poetry Contest.

Her literary partnership “Life in Quarantine” with Stanford University has been presented in the Open Education Global Forum 2020 and received mention in the newspaper Stanford Daily. Her sonnet publication with the Poetry Society of New York has been accepted as a Summer Reading curriculum in University High School, Indiana, USA. and also been transformed into a dance performance by the Van Dance Inc.

She also has been featured on the PBS American Portrait. Her works have also been selected in the literary publication of various US universities like (Temple University, Philadelphia), Stanford University, University of Albany, Kent State University, Chicago University, and Arkansas University. 

Megha is a 2022 Winner of BroadSide Poetry Contest at San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival, 2022 Finalist for Stafford Lit Festival(Uk), 2020 National Level Winner in the Spring Robinson Literary Prize by Poetry Matters Project, 2020/2019/2018 Three-time NAMI NJ State Level Poetry Contest winner., 2022 Winner of the Broadside San Gabriel Poetry Festival, and 8th Place winner for the Poetry Super HIghyway Contest 2020. Shortlisted in Stafford Lit Festival (2022), Pangolin Poetry Prize 2019(USA), Adelaide Literary Award 2020/2021 (USA), Erbacce Prize 2020/2021(UK), iWomanGlobalAwards 2020(India), TWIBB Beyond Black Sakhi Awards 2020(USA), Poetry Super Highway 2020(USA). Nominated for “Publication of the Month” and “Author of the Year 2020” by Spillwords Press Awards 2021, NYC. She is also the second-place winner in the San Gabriel Broadside Poetry festival 2021.

Her works have been selected numerous times by the Jersey City Writers Group and the Department of Cultural Affairs for the Arts House Festival. Chosen twice as the international panelist for the Jersey City Theater Center Online Series “Voices Around the World”. and “The Box: Reinvention 2021”.   

Her poetry has been showcased in public spaces such as City Hall, Jersey City, Berry Lane Park, NJ, Paterson Poetry Festival 2021, Jersey City Free Public Library, and many more. Her collaboration with the Poetry Society of New York has been turned in to dance performance by the award-winning VanDance Inc. and was presented at the dance festival in 2021. Her poem “Surreal” has been performed at the WildSound Festival, LA by Hollywood Actress Careena Cojeen. Her poem “Survival is an Art”, Finalist in the Pangolin Poetry Contest 2019, has been read and performed by award-winning UK-based singer Tally Koren.

She has been a featured poet in Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken Library, BrownStonePoets, Oceanside Library Poetry reading 2020, NY alongside Brooklyn Poet Laureate and Fellow of Academy of American Poets Maria Lisella. She was also a Featured Poet in Brown Stone Poetry Reading 2020 alongside LA-Based Joshua Corwin and Chad Parenteau. Her events include the Historical Nuyorican Cafe ( April 10,2021) in NYC and a featured poet alongside Alora Young ( Youth Poet Laureate of Nashville) and Sophia Falco in the event “Women in Poetry’s Future” managed by WNBA-DC ( Women’s National Book Association”, DC Chapter) on April 20,2021. She is also been a featured poet in the country’s longest weekly poetry event curated by Kai Coggin, Wednesday Night Poetry. She also has been a featured Poet in the “Night of Poetry” Event to support Cory Provost’s re-election, District Leader, Kings County, Brooklyn, NY.

Anthologies featuring her works have been mentioned in the Huffington Post and showcased in the Poets House, Manhattan as part of the summer reading 2019. Anthology (“SMITTEN”, Indi(e) Blue Press) has been a Finalist in the Indie Excellence Awards 2020. She was also part of the community poem “Just Breathe” curated by Former Jersey City Poet Laureate Rashad Wright and produced by Arts House Productions featuring 44 poets of Jersey city alongside Mayor Steven Fulop and the councilmen and councilwomen.

Her poem “Angels in Blue” written as an ode to the medical workers during COVID-19 also shares the space with the poem written by the President of Ireland Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins in the literary journal Pendemic.

Through her literary partnership with Stanford University she was able to curate the works of Richard Blanco, US Presidential Inaugural Poet during President Barack Obama’s second term.  Her debut print anthology as an editor (“The Kali Project, Indie Blue Press)  has garnered enough attention in the media and other outlets. You can learn more about it here.

Anthology “Earth: A Place Worth Fighting For”, featuring her poem, curated by the UK-based Staffordshire Poet Laureate, Mel Wardle Woodend has received a letter of thanks from the British Legend Sir David Attenborough. Her works have been anthologized numerous times.

Some notable anthologies include the 25th Annual Anthology by Moonstone Arts Centre alongside Sonia Sanchez, Toi Derricotte, Ethelbert Miller, and many more. “Paws healing the Earth”, River Paw Press” alongside Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Robert Pinsky. Surviving Suicide by Nirala Publications curated by Yututsu Sharma. Anthology by National BEAT Poetry Foundation

Black Fire -This Time Anthology by Willow Books featuring, Amiri Baraka, Amina Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, James Baldwin, Eugene Redmond, Gwendolyn Brooks, E. Ethelbert Miller, Kalamu ya Salaam, Everett Hoagland, Nikki Giovanni, Ron Milner, Ismael Reed, Dudley Randall and many more. Anthology “Re-Imagine America” by Vagabond Press alongside US Poet laureate Joy Harjo and many more.

Roles and Responsibilities

  • Assistant Poetry Editor at the UK based Lit and Arts Journal, MookyChick ( A Feminist Arts and Literary Journal since 2005)
  • Associate Editor with California-based Literary Journal Life and Legends ( “Life and Legends” are published by the “Silent River Film and Literary Society,” a non-profit organization registered in the state of California, USA. For more, visit – www.silentriverfilmandliterarysociety.org)
  • Literary Partner for the “Life in Quarantine” Project by Stanford University, Sponsored by CESTA ( Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis) and The Poetic Lab, California, USA. You can read more about my role here.
  • Contributing member at various literary Journals including Heretics, Lovers and Madmen, Sudden Denouement, GoDogGO Cafe, Candles Online, Whisper, and the Roar, Poets Corner, and Free Verse Revolution.
  • Former Contributing Poetry Editor at US-based Literary Journal Ariel Chart.
  • Associate Editor for the Brownstone Poets Anthology 2022.

Press Mentions ( 2018-2021)

 Books and Editing Projects

Co-Edited  Anthologies (“The Medusa Project” , MookyChick, UK ) and ( The Kali Project, Indie Blu(e) Publishing,US).

“The Kali Project”, Invoking the Goddess Within, Indian Women’s Voices by Indie Blu(e) Publishing, Edited by Candice Louisa Daquin and Megha Sood

The Kali Project anthology is a Finalist in 15th Indie Excellence Book Awards

The Kali Project has brought together the voices of 200+ Indian women speaking their truths. Be it infanticide, family violence, the emerging LGBTQ community in India, or the marital inequity Indian women face, these struggles are penned in exquisite poetry to enlighten and bring awareness. You can know more about the project here.

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The Medusa Project, A Feminist Anthology by MookyChick

“The Medusa Project” drives inspiration from the magical winged warrior and a Greek Gorgon  “Medusa” who rose above all the struggles, atrocities, and abuse in her patriarchal society and carved a niche for her, finally becoming a beacon of strength and resilience for generations to come. This anthology celebrates the 100 years of the woman suffragist movement in the United State which led to the 19th amendment of the US contribution allowing women to vote.

This anthology is a deep exposition of that pain and angst carried by the women for generations. It encapsulates the entire angst, rage, and passion and transforms it into thirty poems, mixed with art, poetry, fiction, and the magical rituals spreading throughout this e-book. Released on October 31, 2020, this e-book is free to download. You can know more about e-anthology here. The Medusa Project was recelty selected as a digital payload to be sent to moon via the Lunar Codex Project. 

“The Medusa Project”, is going to the moon!! as part of the “Polaris Collection” via Astrobotics Technologies and SpaceX

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First Chapbook “A Potpourri of Emotions” by Local Gems Press, Long Island,New York

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First Full Length Poetry Collection ” My Body Lives Like a Threat” by Flower Song Press,2021

“My Body Lives Like a Threat” is a Semi-finalist for the grant by the National League of American Pen Women #NLAPW

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Preorder Link and Book listing at the FlowerSong Press: https://www.flowersongpress.com/books-1-86RkO/p/my-body-lives-like-a-threat

https://www.flowersongpress.com/forthcoming-author-gallery ( Proud to share the author space with US Poet Laureate Emeritus and Chancellor of Academy of American Poets, Juan Felipe Hererra)

A deep exposition of gender and color-based discrimination, reproductive rights violations, body politics, and the impact of a toxic political environment on the country and its people.

First Chapbook ” My Body is Not an Apology” by Finishing Line Press, Oct 2021

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Read the Advance Reviews here: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/my-body-is-not-an-apology-by-megha-sood/

My chapbook is a true reflection of the feminist soul that I carry. All the poems in the collection are centered around body politics and its development. My poems are a deep exposition of gender-based discrimination, and sexual and reproductive rights violations that references my experience emanating from gender-based bias and the proliferation of hate speech against women. These poems are not only the reflection of blatant violation of body rights but also address the human rights violation in today’s toxic political environment as a whole. This chapbook highlights my journey, gives it a voice, and strengthens the fact that how the body is so central yet it remains invisible and still acts as a threat.

Published Works

My 800+ works have been featured in  Rising Phoenix Review, WNYC, Poetry Society of New York, North of Oxford, LILIPOH, SONKU Collective, American Writers Review, Better than Starbucks,521 Magazine, KOAN ( Paragon Press), Dime Show Review, Little Rose Magazine, Visitant Lit, Quail Bell, American Writers Review, Pendemic, Dream Noir Magazine, The Writer’s Cafe Magazine, The Quiet Corner, Poets Corner, Modern poetry, Spill words, FVR Publishing, Sudden denouement Publishing, Indian periodicals, Literary heist, Ariel Chart, Modern Literature, Fourth and Sycamore, Life in 10 minutes, Piker Press, Poethead, Former People Magazine, Cavalcade of Stars, The Stray Branch, Poetic Diversity, Ofrendas Press, Mojave Heart Review, Nightingale and Sparrow, Treehouse Arts, Praxis Magazine, The Conclusion Magazine, Merak Magazine, Royal Rose Magazine, Night Music Journal, GoDogGoCafe, Whisper and the Roar, Duane Poetree, Visual Verse, Vita Brevis, Dream Noir, Mineral LitMag, Pendemic, and many more.

Anthologies featuring my works have been mentioned in the Huffington Post and showcased in the Poets House, Manhatten as part of the summer reading 2019.

Social Impact

To know more about my published works you can visit here

Anthology (Past and upcoming)

Year 2021-22

  • Earth : A Place Worth Fighting For Stafford Green Arts Festival Poetry Anthology 2021, Anthology by Staffordshire Poet Laureate Mel Wooded, 2021
  • Anthology ” Black Fire This TIme” by Willow Books curated by Dr Kim McMillon. The anthology will be published in February 2022 and include the work of Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed, Margaret Walker, Dudley Randall, Gwendolyn Brooks, and so many more.
  • Anthology “Reimagine America” by Vagabond Press curated by Mark Lipman featuring the works of Matt Sedillo, David Dephy, Thelma T Reyna, US Poet Laureate and Chancellor for Academy of American Poets,Joy Harjo and many others.
  • Dovetales: Letters from Self to the World, USA, 2021 featuring Ethel Millar, Former Editor of Poet Lore,This issue will highlight past contributors, among them Sam Hamill, Martín Espada, W.S. Merwin, Adriana Páramo, Stephen Kuusisto,  E.Ethelbert Miller and many more.
  • Boundless Anthology VIPF, Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, 2021 curated by the former McAllen, Texas Poet Laureate, Edward Viduarre.
  • Anthology “Paws Healing the Earth”, River Paw Press, 2021 curated by Kalpna Singh Chitnis and includes the work of US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize Finalist , Robert Pinsky.
  • Surviving the Suicide, Nirala Publications , 2021 curated by Yuyutsu Sharma and featuring the works of esteemed poet Dr Ravi Shankar.
  • Poetry Featured in “Poetry and COVID” Poetry and COVID ( University of Plymouth) Arts and Humanaties Reasearch Council,UK Gov
  • Poetry Published in NYPL ( New York Public Library) ezine, Dec 2021.
  • Anthology 25th Annual Poetry Ink by MoonArts Press curated by Larry Robin featuring the works of Toi Derricote, Sonia Sanchez Tim Tipton, and many others.
  • COVID Anthology Project by Burlesuqe Press, 2021
  • Twin Tower, Twin Decades Anthology by Local Gems Press, 2021
  • It can’t Happen Here, MoonStone Arts Press, PA, 2021
  • Adelaide Awards Poetry Anthology 2021, Adelaide Press, NYC
  • Brownstone Poets Anthology, 2021
  • Lessons from the Earth: An e-journal curated by Poet Laureate of Coburg
  • Poetry and Interview featured in the exophonic journal ,Litehouse Journal
  • Poetry published in the Tulsa Review, a literary journal by Tulsa Community College.
  • Poetry Published in the Nebo Journal, 2021
  • Poetry Published in “The Somerville Times” newspaper, section edited by Doug Holder
  • E-anthology curated by the FAO ( Food and Agriculture Organization) of the United Nations and PoetryX
  • Poetry published in the May Day Sonnet Project by the Poetry Society of New York, 2021
  • Black Life Matters, Subterranean Blue Poetry,2021
  • Anthology “But You Don’t Look Sick”, Indie Blue Press,2021
  • Ofrendas Magazine Issue 1, Ofrendas Press, 2021
  • Nursery Rhymes and Children Anthology, Anita Nahal and Dr Meenakshi Mohan, 2021
  • Earth, Fire, Water and Wind Anthology , Anita Nahal, 2021
  • International Writers Journal )Jan-Mar 2021
  • Assiduous Dust Poetry Anthology by Joshua Corwin, Spring 2021
  • Lockdown Literature Anthology, Culture Cult Press,2021
  • LILIPOH Magazine by Ellaraine Rockie , Jan 2021
  • “Home”, Anthology by SETU Magazine, Rajasthan Press, 2021
  • Fevers of Mind Annual Anthology, David O Lan, 2021
  • Anthology “Time to Wonder”, University of Chicago,2021
  • Poetry Quarterly, Winter Edition, Prolific Press,2021
  • Anthology by Third Eye Butterfly Press,2021
  • Transportation Anthology, Tarifi Press, South Africa, 2021
  • Vita Brevis Press Anthology, 2021
  • Theme :Sex, Spectrum Publishing, 2021
  • Featured as “Time of the Poet” , MIOMBO Publishing
  • Poetry Featured in the February Edition of “Word City” Monthly curated by Daricie Friesen Hossack
  • Poetry Showcase on the Fevers of the Mind Blog
  • Arcs Prose Poetry Anthology , Arcs Poetry Press, 2021
  • Anthology “But You Don’t Look Sick”, Indie Blue Press, 2021
  • Poetry Featured in the ezine  Arts and Litearary Journal ,Sarawati
  • Anthology ” Poetry on a Plate” , 2021
  • Poetry featured in the Different Truths Journal
  • Poetry Featured in the Fasihi Magazine, Feb 2021
  • Anthology “Krishanashtak” , 2021
  • Anthology “Pixie Dust and All Things Magical” by AuthorsPress

Year 2020

Year 2018-2019

Book Reviews

Prizes and Awards

Year 2022

  • Winner of the 2022 Broadside Poetry Contest at the San Gabriel Poetry Festival
  • Finalist at the Stafford Lit Festival 2022 (UK)

Year 2020-21

Year 2019-18

Interviews 2018-2021

Events

Year 2020-21

Year 2019-18

Lastly, a million thanks to all who visit, like, or follow my tiny bits of creation.
Every time you do that, I get to know one more beautiful person in my life and get the chance to see their creation too.

Thanks again!!
Happy Poetry!!

Megha Sood

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