University of Arkansas Press Publishes Anthology of Afghan American Literature

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New anthology from University of Arkansas Press

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature, edited by Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi ($24.95 paper), has been published by the University of Arkansas Press.

Fifty selections from 33 writers are included. The book provides a foreword by Tamim Ansary, author of West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story, who called the book “an admirable achievement” and a “crucial first step toward absorbing the unique experience of Afghan Americans into the universal themes that form human experience as a whole.” A themes index and a chronology of Afghan American history are also included.

According to Larry Malley, director of the press, One Story, Thirty Stories is the fourth ethnic literary anthology the press has published. “We’ve published South Asian American poetry, Arab American poetry, Arab American fiction, and Iranian women’s literature,” Malley said. “In these days of political and cultural divisiveness, we’re proud to bring these vibrant voices and experiences to readers.”

The editors echo Malley’s comments in their introduction. “What is overtly known about Afghanistan and Afghans is war, destruction, and ruins, with a streak of red poppy fields and blue burqas to color the two-dimensional images of this small and landlocked country. What we offer in this first anthology of Afghan American literature is beyond these stereotypical images…. [T]his anthology brings to light the longer and deeper relationships between the United States and Afghanistan, the firsthand stories of Afghans who became Americans, and a map of the ‘Little Afghanistans’ within American cities.”

Zohra Saed is a doctoral candidate in English literature at the City University of New York Graduate Center. Born in Jalalabad, she immigrated with her family to Brooklyn at the age of five. Sahar Muradi is a program and trek coordinator for the international organization buildOn. Born in Kabul, she immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was three years old. They titled their anthology One Story, Thirty Stories from the poetic line that begins Afghan fairy tales: “Afsanah, seesanah,” a rough equivalent to the English “once upon a time.”