One Story, Thirty StoriesFrom the desk of Sholeh Wolpé
poetry editor
Levantine Review

As we know there has been for a long while a phenomenon in literature of "being between worlds," in which immigrant writers narrate their lives, carving out dual identities. The trend has been prominent in American literature for many decades among earlier communities—Asian, Latin, African American, Jewish.

Since 9/11—and in some cases years before—there has been a cultural and political blossoming of American writers of Arab and Iranian heritage which is now joined by those of the Afghan diaspora, especially in the United States, revealing a vibrant, active, and intellectual Afghan American community. With the success of Khaled Hosseni's The Kite Runner—the first work of fiction written by an Afghan American to become a bestseller—has come new interest in the works of other Afghan American writers. One Story, Thirty Stories (or "Afsanah, Seesaneh," the Afghan equivalent of "once upon a time") collects poetry, fiction, essays, and selections from two blogs from thirty-three men and women—poets, fiction writers, journalists, filmmakers and video artists, photographers, community leaders and organizers, and diplomats.

The anthology is edited by Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi, and published by the University of Arkansas (2010).

Some of One Story, Thirty Stories contributors are veteran writers, such as Tamim Ansary (author of Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes) and Donia Gobar (The Invisibles: A Collection Of Poetry & Artwork), but others are novices and still learning how to craft their own "story," their unique Afghan American voice. The fifty pieces in this rich anthology reveal journeys in a new land and culture. They show people trying to come to grips with a life in exile, or they trace the migration maps of parents. They navigate the jagged landscape of the Soviet invasion, the civil war of the 1990s and the rise of the Taliban, and the ongoing American presence in Afghanistan.

This month we present poems from the book, by Donia Gobar, Khalida Sethi, and Sedika Mojadidi.

—SFW