In the increasingly transnational and globalized context in which we conduct our research and scholarship in Iranian Studies, it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the proliferation of the arts and literature of Iranian diaspora subjects and communities as part of our academic field and pursuits. The collection "Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers" offers a dynamic shift in the literature of the US/North American context away from poetry and memoir (which dominated the 1990s and early 2000s), and in the genre of fiction. This move toward fiction highlights interesting and important aspects of how Iranians see and represent themselves in language, culture, and in political and social contexts beyond the framing of the 1979 revolution. This collection instigates an important literary but also cultural trend that creates new opportunities for intellectual and artistic engagement with and about Iran. It represents some of the best new writing about Iran and Iranian Americans today-- and these writers take their cues from the many contexts and subcultures in which they reside---as first-generation immigrants, the 1.5 generation, the American-born, Iranian American writer, and those who reach back to write about Iran in powerful ways that belie a monolithic narrative.
The proposed panel features literary readings by some of the contributors to this collection, whose work represents the diverse perspectives represented within it; perspectives that are sometimes omitted from the academic discourse.
PARTICIPANTS:
* Persis Karim, San Jose State University (Co-editor and contributing author)
* Anita Amirrezvani, California College of the Arts (Co-editor and contributing author)
*Omid Fallahazad (Contributing author)
