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Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from the author’s preface to Hafez and Irony: Where Is the Limit of the World’s Madness? by Reza Farokhfal (Asemana Books, 2024). Originally written in Persian, this excerpt was translated into English by Asemana Magazine to introduce Farokhfal’s contribution and critical intervention in contemporary understandings of Hafez’s poetry. In this preface, Farokhfal argues…
[it’s left up to the officer as to whether a citizen is expressing a right to protest or is exercising an interference to the operation .]for Renee GoodText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedon a day the sky is winter white and ice is underfoot. shots rang out killing Renee Nicole Good did he shoot her…
A Note on This ReviewThis review was originally written by Farkhondeh Hajizadeh on the Persian edition of Family Secret Memories. It has been translated into English by Asemana Magazine to accompany the publication of the novel’s English translation — rendered from the Persian by Mahshad Abdoli — released by Asemana Books on July 7, 2025.Family Secret Memories, a novella by…
Dear Readers and Friends of Asemana Books,We are delighted to announce the publication of a remarkable new addition to our catalog; an important work of Persian literary history now available in English translation for the first time.Published by Asemana BooksSADEQ MAMQULI:THE SHERIFF OF ISFAHANORTHE SHERLOCK HOLMES OF IRANA novel byKazem Musta’an al-Sultan (Hooshidaryan)Translated and introduced by:Mahdi GanjaviISBN: 9781069021069This landmark translation…
Note: This essay by Sanaz Davoodzadeh Far examines Hold Me Fishes: Three Plays by Alireza Shieslar, recently published by Asemana Books.—In contemporary Persian dramatic literature, works capable of simultaneously transcending the boundaries of realism, engaging with social and human concerns, and maintaining an independent aesthetic identity are relatively rare. From this perspective, the play collection Hold Me, Fishes by Alireza…
Enclosurei. Gaza eternalText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedthe babies. nothing. the old. nothing. the women, the men, the boys, the girls. nothing. the sick. nothing. the maimed. nothing. the screaming wounded. nothing. the maddened of all ages. nothing. one by one by a hundred, by a thousand. nothing. ii. Uninvited guestText within this block will…
The Water BeastThe buyer had a well seasoned merchant’s spirit. He had seen through and out the other man’s troubles and was not going to give a better offer. He was getting the whole herd practically for nothing, and he hadn’t the slightest remorse. The seller almost lost his temper and was ready to send him away, sell him nothing.…
What kind of poetry compels a major poet to write about it on the first day of the New Year while his country is under bombardment?On March 21, 2026—1 Farvardin 1405 in the Iranian calendar—acclaimed Iranian poet Shams Langeroodi sat down to write a brief reflection on the poetry of Hassan Safdari, known by his literary name, Bijan. The circumstances…
Voice from IranText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedCalculatingly (with a fat eye on publicity, you used the terms “good-heartedly” and “heroically”) you carefully—to avoid my family, you said— bombed my evil neighbour. He wasn’t home. Anyway, what you actually hit and destroyed was next door. You killed my sister and brother. So now I will…
ZippersText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedWe zipper in zipper out divide bisect rule in rule out borders and stanchions the moats and railings of the human heart Restrict forbid segment we rope off even the water the mare liberum with its scars of jurisdictional seas and laneways Eintritt verboten we float above the hash marks…
Asemana Books is pleased to announce the publication of a timely and intellectually significant new English-language title:Published by Asemana BooksTweets of Love and ProtestA Poetic Inquiry into Writing of Emotions in Social MovementsByAmir KalanISBN: 978-1-997503-38-5Part of Amir Kalan’s larger Writing in Times of Crisis project, this book offers an innovative arts based exploration of a pool of Iranian protest tweets,…
Bombs“True peace is not merely the absence of tension;it is the presence of justice.” – Dr. Martin Luther King JrText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThe bombs prefer to drop at night because they don’t like to be seen before they are felt. It doesn’t make sense that bombs would be afraid when they don’t even…
Asemana Books PresentsBook Launch: Where Words Defeat BulletsAn Anthology: Poems for the Iranian People and Their 2026 UprisingCompiled by Mansour NoorbakhshThis powerful anthology brings together a formidable chorus of poets—across borders, languages, and generations—whose voices refuse silence in the face of violence and erasure.Poets attending and reading:Albert Moritz · David Stones · I. B. Iskov · Olga Stein · Patrick…
Standing in the Silent StreetsText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThe pale glow of the streetlights cut through the darkness, illuminating a restless tide of wandering passersby in shifting hues. Inside a motionless car with its headlights off – a blind vessel anchored in the night – a man sat utterly still. Fear, old and sedimented,…
Some books ask simply to be read. Others ask to be witnessed. Where Words Defeat Bullets belongs to the second kind. It emerges from grief, outrage, and solidarity, but also from something more stubborn: a refusal to let violence have the final word. This is not a book that treats poetry as ornament or as consolation from a safe distance.…
We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Gordon Phinn, who died on April 4.Gordon Phinn—editor, critic, novelist, and poet based in Oakville, Ontario—had been writing and publishing since the appearance of his first poetry collection Lyrical Shifts in 1975. After arriving in Canada from Scotland in 1968 as a teenager, he devoted himself to building…
Asemana Books PresentsBook Launch: Where Words Defeat BulletsAn Anthology: Poems for the Iranian People and Their 2026 UprisingCompiled by Mansour NoorbakhshThis powerful anthology brings together a formidable chorus of poets—across borders, languages, and generations—whose voices refuse silence in the face of violence and erasure.Poets attending and reading:Albert Moritz · David Stones · I. B. Iskov · Olga Stein · Patrick…
MoulderingText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedState and sub-state actors Inhibit our access to the actual, Often, if not in fact, always, As diplomats and emissaries Cover for spies, hit-men and Commandoes, who slink in shiny shadows Between subject and object, an aroma Of aftershave at the cafe table, The sip of expresso, the snap of…
Where Words Defeat Bullets (Compiled by Mansour Noorbakhsh, Asemana Books, 2026) is not simply an anthology of solidarity; it is an experiment in global poetic witnessing. Emerging from a Toronto-based gathering yet extending across continents and histories, the collection positions poetry as both an archive of the Iranian 2026 uprising and a medium through which that history becomes legible beyond…
Published by Asemana Books:WHERE WORDS DEFEAT BULLETSAn AnthologyPoems for Iranian People and Their 2026 UprisingCompiled byMansour NoorbakhshFeaturing poems by:Albert Moritz, Bruce Meyer, Susan Ksiezopolski, Bruce Hunter, Mark McAlister, Olga Stein, Cy Strom, Peta-Gaye Nash, Keith Garebian, Diana Manole, Patrick Connors, Patricia Keeney, Brenda Clews, Brett Campbell, John Oughton, Peter Taylor, Josephine LoRe, I.B. Iskov, Lynn Xu, Hiram Larew, Sylvia Petter,…
A Nation of RedText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedLet us mourn, but let us keep running toward the ocean – let the salted blue swallow our sorrows let the pearls slipping from our cheeks meet us there tomorrow We are a nation marked in red— of crimson tulips breaking through ash their stems split, bleeding…
The otherText within this block will maintain its original spacing when published “Other” can be A devastating label That reflects the worst Social slights Of humankind There are synonyms “different” “strange” “dangerous” “Other’s” bedfellows are Suspicion Rejection Ostracism The “other”: label can be Triggered by Religious beliefs Country of origin Clothing Customs Language Sexual orientation Physical or cognitive challenges In…
Drunk nightText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedBy the lake we sat, You and I, Without exchanging a single word, We gazed at the approaching night, Spreading like a golden carpet The moon bursted in smiles As the lake slept in her eyes The winding road hung on her neck like precious necklaces And the oak…
Dear Readers and Lovers of Books,Asemana Books is proud to announce the publication of:The Qualities of Children that We Thought Were Stronger than BombsA Novel bySiamak VossoughiISBN: 978-1-997503-29-3The Qualities of Children that We Thought Were Stronger Than Bombs is the story of the time before a bomb killed a child. It may have been a moment, a day, a week,…