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Iran

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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

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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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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”

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 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

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The Mirror

By Soheila Beski

When the Bolsheviks took over, Tsar Nicholas summoned my father.

Translated from Persian by Assurbanipal Babilla

The Sewing Machine

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

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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

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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Illuminations

By Sohrab Sepehri

A cloudless sky,no breath of wind,I sit beside the courtyard pool.The slow stirrings of the goldfish,the radiance and I,the earth and water—Life clusters in a fresh washed bunch. My mother…

Translated from Persian by Jerome W. Clinton

Water

By Sohrab Sepehri

Let’s not muddy the water.Imagine that close by a doveis drinking from it,or in a distant grove a finchis washing its wings in it,or in some village it fills a storage jar. Let’s not…

Translated from Persian by Jerome W. Clinton

Address

By Sohrab Sepehri

In it there is love as wide as the blue wings of true friendship.

Translated from Persian by Jerome W. Clinton