Talking Through the Door
An Anthology of Contemporary Middle Eastern American Writing

Susan Atefat-Peckham (Edited by), Lisa Suhair Majaj (Foreword by)

9780815633471

Hardback, published 30 June 2014

272 pages
23.7 x 15.9 x 2.3 cm, 0.503 kg

The writers included here are descendants of multiple cultural heritages and reflect the perspectives of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds: Egyptian, Iranian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Libyan, Palestinian, Syrian. They are from diverse socioeconomic classes and spiritual sensibilities: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and atheist, among others. Yet they coexist in this volume as simply American voices.

Atefat-Peckham gathered poetry and prose from sixteen accomplished writers whose works concern a variety of themes: from the familial cross–cultural misunderstandings and conflicts in the works of Iranian American writers Nahid Rachlin and Roger Sedarat to the mysticism of Khaled Mattawa’s poems; from the superstitions that govern characters in Diana Abu-Jaber’s prose to the devastating homesickness in Pauline Kaldas’s characters. Filled with emotion and keen observations, this collection showcases these writers‘ vital contributions to contemporary American literature.