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Iran

A portrait of writer and translator Anton Hur on the left, and a photo of the cover of his book...
“Making Space for Each Other”: Anton Hur on Toward Eternity, Translation, and Immortality
By Mandana Chaffa
“There are so many great translators out there with wonderful projects, and I want to see them published. If I can step into the breach, I try to, for the sake of the ecosystem and, by extension, myself.”
Beige and brown smudges against a blue background
Photo by Visax on Unsplash
The Translation of War
By Baktash Abtin
what is language? and what is the translation of war?
Translated from Persian by Nasim Basiri
The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x3 grid: Mourning a Breast, Elevator in...
The Watchlist: July 2024
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll on six summer reads you won’t want to miss, from a detective thriller banned in Vietnam to a collection of speculative stories from Egypt.
The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Bad Seed, The Joyful Song of the Partridge,...
The Watchlist: May 2024
By Tobias Carroll
Icelandic dystopia. A Quebecois graphic novel. Queer short stories from Puerto Rico. Tobias Carroll recommends all this and more in his May Watchlist.
A handwritten sign with Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) written on it in English and Kurdish
Pirehelokan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
#WomanLifeFreedom: A Year Since “Jina’s Calendar” Began
By Poupeh Missaghi
New incarnations of resistance are forming and reforming every day, stronger than ever before, so I do not want to suggest that things are coming to an end for the Iranian people opposing the regime.
A pen-and-ink drawing of pedestrians looking downcast and concerned. A woman holding an image of...
Image © Syd Fini. The image depicts a video of Leila Mahdavi, walking around and showing people a photo of her son. Siavash Mahmoudi was sixteen when he was killed by the regime’s bullets on September 21, 2022, during the protests.
Scenes from Woman Life Freedom
By Syd Fini
In a series of pen-and-ink drawings, Iranian artist Syd Fini portrays key figures in the country's ongoing Woman Life Freedom protests.
Multimedia
People holding hands circling a fire on a street
Photo via the author
Reflecting on One Hundred Days of Woman Life Freedom
By Razieh Mehdizadeh
You came up the stairs of the Haghani subway station, and with you the life of the whole nation of Iran came up its throat, leaving its body.
Translated from Persian by Poupeh Missaghi
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
There was not one single woman present in any of the stadiums I had attended during any of my teams’ matches.
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
In Poupeh Missaghi's translation, 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 Words Without Borders
“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 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
hole in the ceiling of a temple
Photo by AmirAbbas Rahbar Modami on Pexels.
The Poem
By Mohsen Emadi
the poem is riding a bicycle; / trembling and in haste.
Translated from Persian by Sholeh Wolpé
Learn
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.
Learn
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
Learn
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
Learn
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
Learn
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
Learn
The General
By Nicolas Wild
It's the good stuff. Afghani.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Between Two Worlds: An Interview with Goli Taraghi
By Nahid Mozaffari
Dealing with censorship is a game of hide and seek.
Translated from Persian by the author
The Poet, His Cut-Off Head in His Hand, Went Singing Songs and Ghazals: Literature in Iran
By Shahriar Mandanipour
Iran’s literature has survived, and its survival has a secret.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
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
LearnMultilingual
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
LearnMultilingual
Forty-Eight Steps
By Paxima Mojavezi
He sets off, a few steps ahead of me. I follow him.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
The Pink Cloud
By Alireza Mahmoudi Iranmehr
I was looking at the sky when suddenly a shower of bullets pierced my chest.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
From “I Will Grow, I Will Bear Fruit . . . Figs”
By Payam Feili
I leave and return with a large piece of sky.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Bastard
By Yasser Norouzi
You want me to grant your wish, you must satisfy my need.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
Someone is Calling “Leili”
By Noori Ijadi
By the way, how old am I? I can’t remember.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
Escape
By Behnaz Alipour Gaskari
She was now sitting half-naked in front of the door.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Multilingual
Lamb
By Elham Eshraghi
Before he could reach for his abacus to add up the total, Tooba Khanum opened the folds of her chador to produce a rooster.
Translated from Persian by the author
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
LearnMultimedia
The Mirror
By Soheila Beski
When the Bolsheviks took over, Tsar Nicholas summoned my father.
Translated from Persian by Assurbanipal Babilla
The Sewing Machine
By Aman Mirzai
Mother is the needle's thread.
Translated from Dari by Zuzanna Olszewska
Multilingual
Mummy and Honey
By Shahriar Mandanipour
She had seen a rope in the middle of her room and when she bent down to pick it up, the rope had with insolent reluctance slithered into the folds of the bedding.
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
Connection
By Forugh Farrokhzad
I sensed my skin crack from love’s dilating joy.
Translated from Persian by Sholeh Wolpé
Learn
From “23”
By Shams Langeroody
The sky is torn in shreds, and song and light / gush from its heart.
Translated from Persian by Zara Houshmand
Sunshine in the Closet
By Granaz Moussavi
They become little stars and screech at the night
Translated from Persian by Zara Houshmand
A Revolutionary Tradition: Shoars in Iranian Street Politics
By Elham Gheytanchi
As images of the bloody crackdown by government militias and plainclothes policemen on the peaceful demonstrations were broadcast after the controversial results of the tenth presidential elections in…
The First Day
By Goli Taraghi
“Each element establishes a layer that gives the story added weight and heft.”—Francine Prose
Translated from Persian by the author