Virginia Quarterly Review--Iran Issue

Our former Institute fiction fellow, Laleh Khadivi, writes:

Friends,

A little over a year ago the Iranian people took to the streets of Tehran, Esfahan, Mashad and countless other cities to protest what they considered hasty and inaccurate election results. The government response to those protests was harsh, resulting in an untold number of deaths and countless arrests, both of which continue today.

The news outlets may have stopped their reporting for the time being but history continues to unfold in Iran as the regime suppresses its detractors and the detractors continue to find ways to voice their discontent. These are, undoubtedly, interesting times.

Over the past ten months Erika Abrahamian and I have worked to guest edit a special issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review with hopes of taking readers past the headlines and sound bites of mainstream media into the homes and hearts of men and women whose lives are directly affected by the turmoil of a dictatorial regime challenged by its own citizens.

These are intimate accounts, a magnificent compendium of contemporary journalism, fiction, photography and poetry, each of which take the reader gently by the hand to guide them through the complex labyrinths of Iranian life, politics and love.

We are honored to present their work. If you can, please take a moment to go to a bookstore (or online at http://vqronline.org) to purchase an issue and then take another moment to read the work of men and women, who by merit of picking up a pen or sending out a blog entry, have put their lives and the lives of their families at great risk, all for the sake of sharing with others the realities of a historical moment charged with terror, courage, and possibility.


Be well,
Laleh and Erika