From Central Asia to Iran to Brooklyn, a mutli-genre literary reading to celebrate Nowruz, our common New Year, with ground-breaking writers from the Afghan and Iranian American diasporas. Acknowledging the deeply entwined histories of our peoples and the overlapping richness of our literary traditions, this reading is inspired by desire to forge new artistic collaborations in the US, where the breadth and insight of our many stories are most urgently needed.

Najila Naderi works in the history department at Columbia University, and is earning her MA in English form Queens College. She is currently working on a collection of short stories. Najila dreams of one day returning to Afghanistan and becoming a teacher.

Narges Bajoghli is currently a PhD candidate in socio-cultural anthropology at New York University, where her research focuses on the production of media and popular culture in Iran. In the summer of 2007, she curated the sister exhibitions of TRANSFORM/ NATION: Contemporary Art of Iran and Its Diaspora, in Washington DC and Tehran. Narges spent three semesters researching at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Law and Political Science as a Susan Knafel Fellow, where she developed programs to support victims of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War. Following her research, she was awarded a place at the Hedgebrook Writer’s Residency. Narges has worked extensively with non- profit organizations in Iran and Latin America. She is co-founder of the non-profit Iranian Alliances Across Borders and developed the International Conferences on the Iranian Diaspora and the Iranian-American Youth Leadership: Camp Ayandeh.

Sara Goudarzi is a New York City writer, performer of poetry, and teacher. She was born in Tehran and grew up in Iran, Kenya, and the US. Her nonfiction and poetry have appeared in The Adirondack Review, National Geographic News, The Christian Science Monitor, Terry and Drunken Boat, among others. She is the founder and co-editor of /One/ The Journal of Literature, Art and Ideas. Sara teaches writing at NYU and Mediabistro, and is currently working on a first novel.

$5 suggested donation. This event is open to the public.

Co-sponsored by the Association of Iranian American Writers and the Association of Afghan American Writers. Hosted by Manijeh Nasrabadi and Zohra Saed.