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Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora
Until recently, Iranian literature has overwhelmingly been the domain of men. But the new hybrid culture of diaspora Iranians has produced a prolific literature by women that reflects a unique perspective and voice. Let Me Tell You Where I've Been is an extensive collection of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction by women whose lives have been shaped and influenced by Iran's recent history, exile, immigration and the formation of new cultural identities in the United States and Europe. These writings represent an emerging and multi-cultural female sensibility. Unlike many flat media portrayals of Iranian women―as veiled, silenced―these writers offer a complex literary view of Iranian culture and its influences. These writers interrogate, challenge, and re-define notions of home and language and their work offers readers an experience of Iranian diaspora culture. Featuring over one hundred selections (two-thirds of which have never been published before) by more than fifty contributors--including such well-known writers as Gelareh Asayesh, Tara Bahrampour, Firoozeh Dumas, Roya Hakakian and Mimi Khalvati--the collection represents a substantial diversity of voices in this multicultural community. Divided into six sections, the book's themes of exile, family, culture resistance, and love, create a rich and textured view of the Iranian diaspora. The poems, short stories, and essays are suggestive of an important conversation about Iran, Iranian culture, the Persian and English languages, and the dual identities of many of its authors. This powerful collection is a tribute to the wisdom, insight, and sensitivity of women attempting to invent and articulate a literature of in-betweenness.
428 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 2, 2019
This collection of 87 poems and stories by 50 different women presents a more unified picture of Iranian women living outside of Iran than one might think. I would suggest jumping right into the selections themselves and saving the scholarly Foreword and Introduction until afterwards.
The poems and stories are interspersed thematically. They show a wide range of experiences, from newly arriving in the U.S. or Europe, to returning to Iran after many years living abroad, to going to Iranian parents’ homeland for the first time. One particularly moving story is by a woman who came to the States as a young child, had a wonderful experience for years with her classmates and their parents, but then saw a 180-degree change in the American attitude towards her and her family after 9-11.
The poems are pleasantly accessible. In one, a girl watches as her homesick parents show slides of their happy youth in Iran. In another, a girl who grew up in America while Iran was at war with Iraq finds herself in Iran for the first time and begins, “I am Iranian/until I open my mouth. Then/I am American.”
It is fortunate that Persis Karim has preserved (and written some of) these works. In an online Doreh-e-Ketab book discussion, she pointed out that they were written 13 or more years ago. Only a few of the women have become recognized authors today. Many are no longer writing. This is a shame, but at least these works of theirs are still available to touch us.
The poems and stories are interspersed thematically. They show a wide range of experiences, from newly arriving in the U.S. or Europe, to returning to Iran after many years living abroad, to going to Iranian parents’ homeland for the first time. One particularly moving story is by a woman who came to the States as a young child, had a wonderful experience for years with her classmates and their parents, but then saw a 180-degree change in the American attitude towards her and her family after 9-11.
The poems are pleasantly accessible. In one, a girl watches as her homesick parents show slides of their happy youth in Iran. In another, a girl who grew up in America while Iran was at war with Iraq finds herself in Iran for the first time and begins, “I am Iranian/until I open my mouth. Then/I am American.”
It is fortunate that Persis Karim has preserved (and written some of) these works. In an online Doreh-e-Ketab book discussion, she pointed out that they were written 13 or more years ago. Only a few of the women have become recognized authors today. Many are no longer writing. This is a shame, but at least these works of theirs are still available to touch us.
June 6, 2024
AN EXCELLENT CONTEMPORARY ANTHOLOGY OF WOMEN’S WRITINGS
Dr. Persis Karim is director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, and a professor of Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 collection, “Long before the taking of hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979, the United States and Iran had a complicated relationship… most Americans hadn’t even heard of Iran. Those who had, knew it as ‘Persia’… Few Americans knew that the CIA had instigated a military coup d’état in 1953 that ousted and imprisoned the popularly elected Mohammad Mossadegh…. The 1979 revolution that led to the establishment f the Iranian Republic, however, would make Iran a household name for many Americans. The images and headlines of the 1980s… increased the distance and animosity between the two countries. Iran became a place largely defined by its restrictive political and religious identity, and in the eyes of Americans… it seemed nothing short of otherworldly… While women in Iran were limited in their opportunities and in their ability to vocalize dissent, Americans too participated in their silencing by assuming that they had little or no agency and were uninvolved in dissent.
“Ironically, one of the most interesting by-products of Iran’s revolution has been the explosion of women’s writing both in Iran and abroad. While women in Iran may have been confined to a less public role, they have sought quieter places to express their individual identities, aspirations, and resistance… Writing has been one of the public arenas to which they have been drawn…. Iranian women had, since the 1980s, written and published in unprecedented numbers. Over the past decade, Iran’s best-selling fiction lists have been dominated by women… This outpouring of written expression has extended to women in the Iranian diaspora as well… Women writers of the Iranian diaspora had had an experience parallel to that of their counterparts living in Iran---they have found themselves having to reshape their identities to fit the new reality of their lives… Writing is a way to wrestle with and name the chaotic experiences that define revolution, war, immigration, and the reconciliation of two distinct cultures…
“[T]his collection … includes writings by women of the Iranian diaspora who live in several locations. This book…reflects literary and cultural expressions shaped by experiences of exile, immigration, otherness, and assimilation and by the complexity of these experiences, rather than the singular or stereotyped images that have been promulgated by the media. This book also represents the idea that any so-called ethnic literature simultaneously participates in and resists the boxes and ghettoes that are constructed by publishers, readers, and even those editors who, like me, compile anthologies from a single category or group or writers. My goal here is to present what I consider to be some of the most recent and compelling poems and narratives by women of the Iranian diaspora (written in English) that I have had the pleasure of reading… The selections … represent what I consider the next step in the ‘literary maturation’ of Iranian diaspora writing…
“By bringing together the work of more accomplished writers with that of younger, less experienced writers, this anthology presents for the first time a chorus of women’s voices within Iranian diaspora literature… [This book] presents to readers a variety of voices and a diversity of women’s experiences in an emerging literature. The literature of the Iranian diaspora is complicated by the ongoing difficult relationship of Iran and the United States and the ease with which events and people associated with September 11 and with violent conflict in the Middle East generally are conflated with Iran and Iranians. This anthology is concerned with the ways that Iran, Iranian culture, the Persian and English languages, and the dual identities of these authors are represented and expressed in the West… Iran and the United States continued to be bound up with each other. Perhaps the wisdom and beauty of this connection are more evident in literature than in the confused and conflicted headlines of the morning newspaper.”
Sections include “Home Stories”; “For Tradition}; “Woman’s Duty”; “Axis of Evil”; “Beyond”; and “Tales Left Untold.”
This collection will be of keen interest to those wanting to know more about what Iranian women of the diaspora are thinking and feeling.
Dr. Persis Karim is director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, and a professor of Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 collection, “Long before the taking of hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979, the United States and Iran had a complicated relationship… most Americans hadn’t even heard of Iran. Those who had, knew it as ‘Persia’… Few Americans knew that the CIA had instigated a military coup d’état in 1953 that ousted and imprisoned the popularly elected Mohammad Mossadegh…. The 1979 revolution that led to the establishment f the Iranian Republic, however, would make Iran a household name for many Americans. The images and headlines of the 1980s… increased the distance and animosity between the two countries. Iran became a place largely defined by its restrictive political and religious identity, and in the eyes of Americans… it seemed nothing short of otherworldly… While women in Iran were limited in their opportunities and in their ability to vocalize dissent, Americans too participated in their silencing by assuming that they had little or no agency and were uninvolved in dissent.
“Ironically, one of the most interesting by-products of Iran’s revolution has been the explosion of women’s writing both in Iran and abroad. While women in Iran may have been confined to a less public role, they have sought quieter places to express their individual identities, aspirations, and resistance… Writing has been one of the public arenas to which they have been drawn…. Iranian women had, since the 1980s, written and published in unprecedented numbers. Over the past decade, Iran’s best-selling fiction lists have been dominated by women… This outpouring of written expression has extended to women in the Iranian diaspora as well… Women writers of the Iranian diaspora had had an experience parallel to that of their counterparts living in Iran---they have found themselves having to reshape their identities to fit the new reality of their lives… Writing is a way to wrestle with and name the chaotic experiences that define revolution, war, immigration, and the reconciliation of two distinct cultures…
“[T]his collection … includes writings by women of the Iranian diaspora who live in several locations. This book…reflects literary and cultural expressions shaped by experiences of exile, immigration, otherness, and assimilation and by the complexity of these experiences, rather than the singular or stereotyped images that have been promulgated by the media. This book also represents the idea that any so-called ethnic literature simultaneously participates in and resists the boxes and ghettoes that are constructed by publishers, readers, and even those editors who, like me, compile anthologies from a single category or group or writers. My goal here is to present what I consider to be some of the most recent and compelling poems and narratives by women of the Iranian diaspora (written in English) that I have had the pleasure of reading… The selections … represent what I consider the next step in the ‘literary maturation’ of Iranian diaspora writing…
“By bringing together the work of more accomplished writers with that of younger, less experienced writers, this anthology presents for the first time a chorus of women’s voices within Iranian diaspora literature… [This book] presents to readers a variety of voices and a diversity of women’s experiences in an emerging literature. The literature of the Iranian diaspora is complicated by the ongoing difficult relationship of Iran and the United States and the ease with which events and people associated with September 11 and with violent conflict in the Middle East generally are conflated with Iran and Iranians. This anthology is concerned with the ways that Iran, Iranian culture, the Persian and English languages, and the dual identities of these authors are represented and expressed in the West… Iran and the United States continued to be bound up with each other. Perhaps the wisdom and beauty of this connection are more evident in literature than in the confused and conflicted headlines of the morning newspaper.”
Sections include “Home Stories”; “For Tradition}; “Woman’s Duty”; “Axis of Evil”; “Beyond”; and “Tales Left Untold.”
This collection will be of keen interest to those wanting to know more about what Iranian women of the diaspora are thinking and feeling.
May 19, 2025
These poems and short stories paint a picture of Iranian women I feel I should have been introduced to before now. I admit my own unconscious bias when it comes to Iran, (never felt more acutely as when I looked up images of Tehran and was shocked at how closely it resembles my home capital). And as I’m sure happens more often than not, some works resonated more than others. But all stories together have given me a better understanding of the women of the Iranian diaspora.
April 2, 2008
In Post 9/11 times, the international relationship between the United States and Iran is apprehensive. Many misconceptions about the culture, its people, and the politics run high through American media intervention. With the current state of affairs, it is easy to become misinformed, misled, or simply no longer care about other cultures. In politics, the abuse of language is the rhetoric politicians use to advance their agendas leaving behind the people-the rich cultures.
In Iran’s case, history has been forgotten and transformed into what a politician said in a speech one night with dire ramifications. Now, future generations are trying to reclaim their roots, discover their past, and build a more peaceful future.One channel which always surpasses unnecessary propaganda, misinformation, and brings about coherency and even beauty is literature.
Persis Karim, an associate professor at San Jose State University was troubled by the political turbulence. In particular, the “axis of evil” began a flurry of creative thought. In her latest anthology, Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora is a collection of passionate pieces portraying the many facets of Persian culture. Women writers gathered and wanted to write their lives, not only as the West had perceived them.
In her anthology, Karim chose over fifty authors, some better known than others. Over two-thirds of the selections were previously unpublished. There are over one-hundred pieces, each remarkable in their own right. They run the gamut from poetry, short stories, and nonfiction. The powerful words strike a chord with all readers. The authors write on topics familiar to all human beings. Some authors include Firoozeh Dumas, Azadeh Moaveni, Sanaz Nikaein and Farnaz Fatemi to name a few. Their words are articulate and intelligent; exuberantly kind, sensitive, and expressive.
The book is subdivided into six sections: Home Stories, For Tradition, Woman’s Duty, Axis of Evil, Beyond, and Tales Left Untold. Within each section, the authors have contributed poems, short stories, and nonfiction to delineate the cross between cultural and sexual identities, love, sexuality, traditions, failing of societal impositions, politics, gender disparities, and painful reticence.
This is an anthology about humanity. Karim has created an amazing collection which embraces language, culture, and spirit. All the authors exemplify the multifaceted nature and contradictions in Persian culture. Each page offers a new gift, each written with a learned hand, and to be savored. The fragrance, contradictions and complexities of Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been linger long after the last page.
Persis Karim is an associate professor of English and creative writing at San Jose State University. She edited A World Between: Poems, Short Stories and Essays by Iranian-Americans.
In Iran’s case, history has been forgotten and transformed into what a politician said in a speech one night with dire ramifications. Now, future generations are trying to reclaim their roots, discover their past, and build a more peaceful future.One channel which always surpasses unnecessary propaganda, misinformation, and brings about coherency and even beauty is literature.
Persis Karim, an associate professor at San Jose State University was troubled by the political turbulence. In particular, the “axis of evil” began a flurry of creative thought. In her latest anthology, Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora is a collection of passionate pieces portraying the many facets of Persian culture. Women writers gathered and wanted to write their lives, not only as the West had perceived them.
In her anthology, Karim chose over fifty authors, some better known than others. Over two-thirds of the selections were previously unpublished. There are over one-hundred pieces, each remarkable in their own right. They run the gamut from poetry, short stories, and nonfiction. The powerful words strike a chord with all readers. The authors write on topics familiar to all human beings. Some authors include Firoozeh Dumas, Azadeh Moaveni, Sanaz Nikaein and Farnaz Fatemi to name a few. Their words are articulate and intelligent; exuberantly kind, sensitive, and expressive.
The book is subdivided into six sections: Home Stories, For Tradition, Woman’s Duty, Axis of Evil, Beyond, and Tales Left Untold. Within each section, the authors have contributed poems, short stories, and nonfiction to delineate the cross between cultural and sexual identities, love, sexuality, traditions, failing of societal impositions, politics, gender disparities, and painful reticence.
This is an anthology about humanity. Karim has created an amazing collection which embraces language, culture, and spirit. All the authors exemplify the multifaceted nature and contradictions in Persian culture. Each page offers a new gift, each written with a learned hand, and to be savored. The fragrance, contradictions and complexities of Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been linger long after the last page.
Persis Karim is an associate professor of English and creative writing at San Jose State University. She edited A World Between: Poems, Short Stories and Essays by Iranian-Americans.
July 7, 2009
I suppose like all collections, this one contains a mix of the wonderful-beautiful-tragic, and the just plain horrible-uninteresting (especially some of the poetry).
September 4, 2009
I attended a poetry reading by this amazing author in San Fran in 2005 and had to support her work, it is an excellent accumulation of several Persian Women's Writings!
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February 7, 2016cbf booklist 12-13
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews