An English translation of a Persian poem remembering the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran – mostly people, both secular and religious, who supported the revolution but then faced repression by the new regime. Published by a small, new, not-for-profit, left publisher run by women of colour in Toronto, Trace Press. I read this because the publisher approached me and asked if I’d be interested in doing an interview with the woman who wrote the Foreword to the book, scholar and revolutionary feminist Shahrzad Mojab, which I will be doing later this week. Her work includes attention to things like prisoner justice and the politics of memory and forgetting, both of which connect to her involvement with this book. And as for the book, well, Yousef’s poem is powerful and moving, and the book as an object is absolutely beautiful because of the acconpanying watercoloured drawings by illustrator Ava Raha. It a strange and difficult thing, though, to read such raw words across the difference in context that separates me from the events of which they speak, and I will need to re-read and reflect further before my interview.
Originally posted by Scott on Goodreads.