Persis Karim, editor of Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora, presents her new anthology and introduces contributors Sholeh Wolpé, Elham Gheytanchi and Roxanne Varzi, for an evening of poetry, writing and discussion.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, event at 7 pm sharp, at Beverly Hills Library Auditorium, 444 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills CA 90210.

Followed by a food/beverage reception sponsored by Shamshiri Grill and Namak Magazine. All books 10% off for members of Levantine Center and PEN. Suggested donation $15 or purchase of an autographed copy of Let Me Tell You Where I've Been, ($25). Reserve by clicking one of the buttons below or send your reservation via email.

Reserve with a donation.

Reserve and purchase the anthology.

This event made by possible with the generous support Shari Rezai and PEN USA, Poets & Writers, Namak Magazine and Shamshiri Grill of Westwood.

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Until recently, Iranian literature has overwhelmingly been the domain of men. But in the twenty seven years since the Iranian revolution, women both in Iran and in the diaspora have written and published in unprecedented numbers. The new hybrid cultures of Iranian diaspora writers has given way to a uniquely feminine literary voice. Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been, the first anthology of writing by women of the Iranian diaspora, is an extensive collection of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that explores through literature the influences of history, revolution, war, exile, and immigration. The work in this collection uncovers an emerging multicultural generation of female sensibility and eloquence. Unlike the tired, familiar images of Iran in the media, these women write about the complicated spaces between cultures, and capture a unique and still emerging literature. They challenge both the patriarchal literary tradition of Iran and the singular portrayals in the West of Iranian women as veiled, silent, and lacking in agency.

Featuring over one hundred selections (two-thirds of which have never been published before) from over fifty contributors—including such well-known writers as Susan Atefat-Peckham, Tara Bahrampour, Firoozeh Dumas, Azadeh Moaveni, and Farnoosh Moshiri —the collection represents a substantial cross section of this unique multicultural community. Organized around six general themes, including home and away, family and tradition, gender, politics, love, and silence, Let Me Tell You Where I’ve Been creates a rich conversation about Iran, Iranian culture, the Persian and English languages, and the dual identities of its authors. In a time when Iran is cited daily in the news and political rhetoric is at an all time high, this collection offers a complex and humanizing literary representation. These writers bring their individual and collective vision and offer a powerful new voice to the international literary scene.

Praise for Let Me Tell You Where I've Been

"Might we present this stunning collection of voices to the U.S. government? Might this be the perfect moment for bridges of language and sensibility—delicious humanity—to define and connect us? Cast aside the grim proclamations of power and threat! Gratitude to Persis Karim for this healing tonic of pomegranate wisdom and pleasure."

— Naomi Shihab Nye, poet and author of You & Yours and 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East

"In these tender and not-so-tender pages you’ll find the barely tellable story of what really happened to dreams deferred. Through the vivid, sometimes spellbinding accounts they provide, these gifted writers speak powerfully to the subject of displacement."

—Al Young, Poet Laureate of California, from the Foreword

"This is a surprising collection. . . . Persis Karim has located a community of sensitive and articulate cultural observers and mapped that explosion of creativity for us."

—Michael Beard, coeditor of Middle Eastern Literatures and author of Naguib Mahfouz: From Regional Fame to Global Recognition

"[These writings] command our attention, not only for the range of their subject matter and literary artistry, but for representing a multiplicity of voices, the newest patch in this quilt of American culture. They are allegories of our enriched nation. . . . the real thing."

—Zohreh T. Sullivan, author of Exiled Memories: Stories of Iranian Diaspora

"We have to thank Persis Karim for this wonderful book and for these powerful selections; they offer an alternative to the currently politicized and one-sided view of Iran and Iranian culture."
—Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

"Iran is a land of paradoxes. It is also undergoing a momentous and profound transformation. The delightfully diverse group of women assembled in this important and timely collection offers a panoramic view of these complex and dynamic changes. Persis Karim ought to be congratulated."
—Farzaneh Milani, author of Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers

Participant Bios

PERSIS KARIM was born in the United States to an Iranian father and a French mother. She grew up feeling a little "different" and spent a good deal of her childhood explaining an identity she couldn’t fully grasp. In the early 1980s she began learning Persian and got involved with a group of Iranian expatriates who were working to raise American awareness about the Iran-Iraq War. As the 1980s wore on, she felt a longing to become more familiar with Persian language and literature as well as the politics of the Middle East. In 1990 (on the eve of Perisan Gulf War I), she started graduate work at the University of Texas in Middle Eastern Studies. She followed her master’s degree, with a Ph.D. in comparative literature. She is an associate professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Jose State University in California and coeditor of A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans. She is currently working on a collection of essays, In the Belly of the Great Satan: Literature, Art and the Emergence of Iranian-American Identity.

MEHRI YALFANI was born in Hamadan, Iran. She moved to Tehran to study electrical engineering at the Technical Faculty of Tehran and unpon graduation worked as an engineer for two decades while raising her children. Yalfani emigrated to France in 1985 and to Canada in 1987. She has published a number of works in Farsi, and two collections of short stories and the novel Afsaneh's Moon in English. Yalfani lives in Toronto.

ELHAM GHEYTANCHI teaches sociology in Santa Monica College. She earned her BA (1995) and MA (1998) in sociology from UCLA, where she completed Ph.D. coursework in sociology. Her field of research has been women in post-revolutionary Iran. Her writing has appeared in both English and Farsi in numerous journals and anthologies. Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Gheytanchi has also been a consultant to various broadcasting companies and radio programs in US and Europe.

ROXANNE VARZI teaches anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She researches and writes about the "culture" produced by the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq War. She has also written about the Iranian cinema that was produced during the war years, in particular a ten-year long documentary project that brings into question notions of the real, and is working on a documentary about war culture in Tehran. Her new book, published by Duke University Press, is Warring Souls: Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran.

SHOLEH WOLPÉ Poet and translator Sholeh Wolpé was born in Iran but spent most of her teen years in the Caribbean and Europe, ending up in the U.S. where she pursued Masters degrees in Radio-TV-Film ( Northwestern University) and Public Health ( Johns Hopkins University). She is the author of The Scar Saloon ( Red Hen Press, October 2004) and has a CD by the same title, and her poems, translations and reviews have been published in many literary journals and anthologies in the U.S., Canada, Europe and The Middle East. Sholeh is the recipient of several awards for her poetry and is the director and host of Poetry at the Loft...and more, a successful cultural arts venue in Redlands, California. She divides her time between Redlands and Los Angeles, California.


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LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER
Cultures of the Middle East & Mediterranean
8424A Santa Monica Blvd., N. 789, West Hollywood CA 90069
310.559.5544, info@levantinecenter.org

Levantine Cultural Center, founded in 2001 as a not-for-profit arts organization, advocates for, educates about, and in general promotes and supports Middle Eastern and Mediterranean contemporary arts and traditional cultures. We present or cosponsor programs of music, literature, art, film/video, publications, new media and more, often from educational and historical perspectives. While acknowledging the value of entertainment, we emphasize scholarship and substance. We are strongly multidisciplinary and non-sectarian, do not embrace any political or religious doctrine, and are committed to the principle of cross-cultural cooperation. We support the strengthening of ties between all cultural, ethnic and religious communities of the Middle East/West Asia/Levant, as well as between all peoples of Middle Eastern descent in diaspora.

 
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