A world between

the long version

This passionate collection of poems, short stories, and essays is the first published anthology of writings by Iranian immigrants as well as first generation Iranian-Americans. Wide-ranging and deeply personal, these pieces explore the Iranian community's continuing struggle to understand what it means to be Iranian in America. Many of the selections are intimate reflections on the pain of being alienated from the language, history, and geography of one's childhood and fondest memories. Other pieces grapple with the complexities and ambiguities of cultural and personal identity, particularly for first generation Iranian-Americans. The contributors arrived in the United States as exiles and refugees of the 1979 Iranian Revolution; others are immigrants who left their homeland for non-political reasons.