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Iran

A black silhouette with a soccer ball over the chest over red flames and a yellow background with...
Image by Omar Momani
Men without Women
By Moeen Farrokhi
Moeen Farrokhi considers recent Iranian political history—including the ongoing #WomanLifeFreedom protests—through the lens of soccer.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
a barefoot man chained to a post
Photo via social media
Khodanur
By Mahdi Ganjavi
Oh Khodanur, / Your half-finished dance / Makes walking on earth unjust.
Translated from Persian by the author
A crop of the Stop Executions Poster depicting two hanging outlines over the words No more executions...
Poster designed by Iman Nabavi
Mornings of Hell in Iran
By Anonymous
Every night I wake up several times. I have nightmares of executions.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
Four girls with their backs turned to the camera holding up their headscarves with their hair down
Photo via social media
I Am a Witness
By Anonymous
An anonymous author reflects on their relationship to history and on what it means to both witness and participate in historic protests in Iran.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
a family collage behind a pair of eyes
Photo via Celina Naheed
Reasons I Feel like a Bad Iranian During a Revolution
By Celina Naheed
Because I fear for my family whose faces I only know from albums
A black wire bird against a colorful background
Photo via Khashayar “Kes” Mohammadi
Day by Day
By Saeed Tavanaee Marvi
The little girl told her mother: / I wish my hair was made of fire
Translated from Persian by Khashayar “Kes” Mohammadi
January-2023-WomanLifeFreedom-Roya-Amigh-artwork-feature
Close-up of "#WomanLifeFreedom," Roya Amigh. Thread on paper, 2022. By arrangement with the artist.
WomanLifeFreedom
By Roya Amigh
I aim to commemorate the many beloved lives taken from us during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran. 
Woman Life Freedom, #mashaamini, and #iranrevolution written in chalk on pavement
Farshid
By Somayeh Noroozi
You might not believe this, but in that little autumn prison courtyard, the dogs and humans are grieving together, wishing for freedom together.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
A family photo on sidewalk of Tehran near a parked motorcycle
Friday Evening Story
By Aida Ahadiany
The boy lay down in the middle of the street. All alone.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
A cluster of pigeons on a sidewalk
Photo by Sahar Sakhaei on Instagram
Conversations
By Sahar Sakhaei
I thought about the eyes of the girl standing tall with her cut hair. Suddenly, the sun rose.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
Black Persian text on a white background
Photo by Zia Nabavi on Instagram
In Conversation with the Prison
By Zia Nabavi
He needed a phone more than anyone in our prison ward.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
Left, author Shariar Mandanipour; right, translator Sara Khalili
Left, Shariar Mandanipour, photo © Danial Mondanipour; right, Sara Khalili, photo © Miriam Berkley
The National Book Award Interviews: Shahriar Mandanipour and Sara Khalili
By the Editors
“There have been times when we have spent hours discussing a single phrase and how to give it the same life and soul in English.”
The book covers of At the Edge of the Woods, When Women Kill, People from Bloomington, Let Us Believe...
The Watchlist: April 2022
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books translated from Ukrainian, Indonesian, Persian, Japanese, and Spanish.
Shelter in Poems: Poetry to Break the Isolation of Social Distancing
By the Editors of Words Without Borders
Words Without Borders is leaning into poetry's ability to fill the void of isolation.
For the Love of the Books
By Habibe Jafarian
I was determined; one day I’d marry a book.
Translated from Persian by Salar Abdoh
Learn
The Poem
By Mohsen Emadi
the poem is riding a bicycle; / trembling and in haste.
Translated from Persian by Sholeh Wolpé
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A Year Among the Boat People, My People
By Amir Ahmadi Arian
What brings people together isn’t language. If anything, when times are hard, shared language can deepen divisions.
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How to Be a Woman in Tehran
By Habibe Jafarian
Any way you look at it, it’s this town that taught me to be ruthless.
Translated from Persian by Salar Abdoh
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Galileo
By Aliyeh Ataei
One wrong move and somebody was bound to shout, “Watch yourself! You’re in Iran now.
Translated from Persian by Salar Abdoh
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A Pun, an Idiom, and an Expletive Walk into a Bar: International Humor
By Susan Harris
When we think of translating humor, we may think in terms of capturing jokes.
Joyful, Painful, Surreal: Life As a Parent
By Karen M. Phillips
The intensity of the parent-child relationship, with its high emotional stakes, life-and-death responsibility, and inescapable physical proximity, makes for powerful stories.
Hunger
By Salar Abdoh
You are in a liminal space, a no man’s land where you are visible and invisible.
Learn
The World at Home: US Writing in Translation
By Susan Harris
This issue is not a departure but a continuation.
A dirty black chair illuminated in a dark cell
Photo by Spencer Tamichi on Unsplash
A Slice of Darkness
By Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar
“Why do you think they brought you here?”
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Recalculating the Hexagon: The New French Literature
By Susan Harris
These writers have migrated geographically and, in some cases, linguistically.
Johnny Rotten, Ari Up, Ian Curtis, Joe Strummer
By Négar Djavadi
Because punk is made so people like you will look at people like me.
Translated from French by Tina Kover
Graphic Novels at WWB: The First Ten Years
By Susan Harris
The narrative threads that weave through the last ten years tell a tale in themselves.
from A Short Guide to Being the Perfect Political Refugee
By Mana Neyestani
This number is your identity.
Translated by Ghazal Mosadeq
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Fragile States: Artwork from freeDimensional
By freeDimensional
A visual exploration of the physical and psychological experiences of persecution and forced displacement.
Multimedia
The Queer Issue V: Impressions from a Passing Train
By Rohan Kamicheril
The appeal of the Queer Issue is in seeing that great ambition writ small, in discovering the swarm of details and experience that cohere into the big picture of world writing.
Ney Boulevard
By Ghazal Mosadeq
Your problem is that you say you are gay but have never seen a gay guy in your entire life.”
Translated from Farsi by Lida Nosrati
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The General
By Nicolas Wild
It's the good stuff. Afghani.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Like a Body Turned Inside Out
By Yaghoub Yadali
Borzu Alvandi will always wonder why he wasn’t martyred.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
LearnMultilingual
Green Sour Orange
By Neda Kavoosifar
With his eyes bulging, Mr. Moadab murmurs, It’s like silk . . .
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Rahman’s Story
By Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar
I lost two people, I’ll take two people . . . with this very bayonet.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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Escape
By Behnaz Alipour Gaskari
She was now sitting half-naked in front of the door.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
December 2011 Fantastic Iranian Metamorphosis Mana Neyestani Feature
An Iranian Metamorphosis
By Mana Neyestani
Write why you drew that cartoon and why you chose a Turkish word.
Translated from Persian by Ghazal Mosadeq
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Connection
By Forugh Farrokhzad
I sensed my skin crack from love’s dilating joy.
Translated from Persian by Sholeh Wolpé
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The First Day
By Goli Taraghi
“Each element establishes a layer that gives the story added weight and heft.”—Francine Prose
Translated from Farsi by the author
Encounter
By Goli Taraghi
I have a feeling that it is a mistake to go to the party at Mr. M.'s, especially under the circumstances.
Translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh
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The Neighbor
By Goli Taraghi
We have no choice but to obey.
Translated from Farsi by Azizeh Azodi
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I Pity the Garden
By Forugh Farrokhzad
The schoolchildren fill their backpacks / with tiny bombs.
Translated from Farsi by Sholeh Wolpé
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Eagles
By Kader Abdolah
One stands on the mountains of my country as if on a grave. An abandoned grave; no one knows who lies buried there.During the winter nothing is visible. In spring when the snow has melted, the graves…
Translated from Dutch by Peter Constantine
Elegy
By Ahmad Shamlou
And so we repeat the round / of night and day
Translated from Persian by Zara Houshmand
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A couple at the tomb of the poet Hafez.
By Adam Jones. License: CC BY 2.0.
The Fish
By Ahmad Shamlou
I think my heart has never been / like this / so warm and red.
Translated from Persian by Zara Houshmand
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Existence
By Ahmad Shamlou
If this is life—how pure!
Translated from Persian by Zara Houshmand
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