Along with our community friends and co-presenters with Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy, we are delighted to present this group reading from the recently published anthology, My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora (University of Texas Press). Edited by Katherine Whitney and Leila Emery, it is expected that both editors, along with esteemed scholar/author Persis Karim, who wrote the book’s foreword, will be part of this, along with a number of contributors including: Siamak Vossoughi, Darius Atefat-Peckham, Dena Rod and Cyrus Copeland. Danyal Lotfi will host.

There are over thirty nonfiction pieces here, reflecting a wide experience of diaspora and identity, with some of the writers - Seattle’s Siamak Vossoughi, Jasmin Darznik, Poupeh Missaghi, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, and Roxanne Varzi among them - known to readers. Individually, and collectively, this is a book of voice, witness, and presence.

“Emotionally raw, honest, often funny and heartbreaking, these are stories that will linger with you long after you’ve read them. My Shadow Is My Skin is a testament to what binds us as Iranian-Americans, but also a poignant reminder that every one of our experiences are distinctly personal.” - Sara Saedi.

“This collection includes writings by first-generation Iranian immigrants to the United States, second-generation immigrants, or diasporic Iranians, several of whom have one American parent, as well as entries by American spouses of Iranian immigrants. It thus allows for a more expansive and inclusive understanding of what it means to be Iranian American or a diasporic Iranian living in the United States. This diversity of voices is one of the strengths of the book; the time for this more generous and capacious understanding of diasporic Iranian identity is long overdue and most certainly welcome.” -Nima Naghibi.

Co-presented with Seattle-Isfahan Sister City Advocacy.

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