"I don't remember exactly whether my youth ended, and then the USSR, or if it was the other way around. But I do know that those two things are connected. Now I'm left here between two truths: the truth of the land, and the truth of the sea" —Mothersland
After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the newly formed Republic of Uzbekistan set out to erase traces of Tajik Persian from its cultural fabric, targeting cities like Samarqand and Bukhara—historical hubs of Persian literature and scholarship. Fearful of persecution, many surrendered their Persian books, while others risked everything to save them from being burnt. Uzbek was proclaimed the sole national language in this linguistically rich region, leaving no room for Tajik Persian.
Samarqand-born writer Shahzoda Nazarova recalls how Perso-Arabic script books were banned by the state. Tajiks, who put a Divan of Hafez in their children’s pillows for their kids’ safety (a practice more commonly done with the Qur’an), could now only own a Cyrillic copy of the poems. When she learned thousands of Persian books were going to be turned into ashes, Shahzoda worked day and night (and spent a massive sum in shipment costs) to mail hundreds of Persian books out of the country to a U.S. university where a Persian studies professor promised her a safe haven.
Fast forward to Tuesday, November 12, Shahzoda arrived in Seattle on her first visit to the United States and reunited with these books at the University of Washington’s Suzzallo Library. For Shahzoda, a writer still navigating a homeland hostile to her Tajik roots, the moment was deeply moving. “I don’t know how many boxes I mailed from Samarqand made it to Seattle,” she shared, “but I am grateful many did.” Credit for their preservation also goes to former MELC professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak and librarian Mary S. St. Germain. While Dr. Karimi-Hakkak left the UW in 2004, Mary remains a steadfast champion of our Middle Eastern collections to this day.
Shahzoda’s journey to the U.S. was part of a week-long Persian literature residency funded by the Iranian community in honor of Iraj Khademi, a beloved advocate for Persian studies and organizer of Bellevue’s cherished Persian Poetry and Music Workshop. Joining Shahzoda were Afghan novelist Asef Soltanzadeh and Laura Catterson, a doctoral candidate at UC Davis’ comparative literature program. Together, they took part in events across Seattle, met with community members, and explored the UW campus.
An Early Yalda at UW
On Wednesday, Laura gave a guest lecture for Professor Canan Bolel’s class, “Gateway to the Middle East,” introducing students to Yalda, a cherished winter solstice tradition among Tajiks, Afghans, and Iranians. A highlight of Yalda is the fal-e Hafez, or divination with Hafez’s poetry. Later that evening, Third Place Books in Ravenna hosted a lively book launch for Mothersland, Shahzoda’s novel recently translated into English by Seattle-based Shelley Fairweather-Vega.
Mothersland has been described by Professor Sam Hodgkin as a “a postcolonial gothic novella in which a girl, cast as her Soviet labor hero mother in a Russian-directed film about the ecological violence of the Uzbek cotton crop, loses her mind in the hall of mirrors of historical representation and reenactment.” Shahzoda read excerpts in Tajik while Shelley followed with English translations. The packed audience buzzed with excitement as Shahzoda shared how writing the novel inspired her mother, Donagol Nazarova, to pen her own memoirs. Released in the same year as Mothersland, Donagol’s Memoirs, published in Tajiki Persian as Дафтари Хотирот, became an instant bestseller.
Writing Workshops and Squirrel Adventures
Thursday brought a creative writing workshop led by Asef Soltanzadeh, introduced by Dr. Jawad Ramyar, a former sociology professor from Herat. Asef masterfully guided participants through the components of novel-writing, encouraging them to craft and share their story beginnings. Two were read out loud at the end: Aria’s quirky tale of a female squirrel navigating the world of nikah mut‘ah (temporary marriage) in 20th-century Shiraz, and Sher’s poignant story of an Afghan shepherd moving to Kabul. Both received thoughtful feedback—and plenty of laughs. Participants were treated to delicious Afghan pastries thanks to Mursal Malekzai and copies of Asef’s works. Thanks to Asef, the Suzzallo Library will now hold copies of all his works.
Persian beyond Borders
The day ended with a panel discussion on “Translating Persian Literature: Problems and Prospects,” hosted by the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society (NOTIS) at Folio in downtown Seattle. The event featured Laura, Shahzoda, Asef, Aria and Shelley, along with a feast of Uzbek cuisine catered by Tabassum Food Truck. The conversation highlighted the richness of Persian’s cultural geography and the challenges of bridging its many scripts, dialects, and national contexts. Folio is frequented by literary translators and publishers, and many of them learned about contemporary Persian literature for the very first time. It was such a rarity to see Persian’s diverse cultural geography represented which resulted into rich and textured conversation.
Each panelist shared their unique journey with Persian literature. Asef reflected on the politics and aesthetics of publishing his works in Iran and Afghanistan, where his novels and short stories have been published and read widely in both countries. Asef’s Iranian publishers have often asked him to footnote certain words and expressions unfamiliar to Iranian readers, even though many readers outside of Tehran will not need a glossary to understand Dari Persian. Asef left Afghanistan in 1985 and lived in Pakistan and later moved to Iran where he rose to literary acclaim. When the deportation of Afghan refugees began in Iran in 2002, he was forced to leave and moved to Denmark.
Shahzoda spoke of cultural isolation in Uzbekistan, where Tajik Persian is written in Cyrillic, limiting access to Afghan and Iranian works and readers. “While we were hiding our Persian books in Samarqand, Moscow sent Tajik soldiers to Afghanistan to serve as interpreters in their war.” “Tajik soldiers returned home with Googoosh and Ahmad Zahir cassettes,” Shahzoda recalled, “and music broke the walls of cultural isolation. Googoosh and Zahir brought down the Soviet Union.” Even now, the Cyrillic script deters most Iranian and Afghan readers who will have to wait for those works, like Mothersland, to be published in the Perso-Arabic script.
Shahzoda spoke of meeting her Iranian partner, the author Mehdi Jami. “When our mothers met,” she said, “they initially could not understand each other at all.” Shahzoda and Mehdi ran into many humorous moments of misunderstanding. When Shahzoda asked Mehdi to join her for a “mahkama” (conversation), Mehdi thought Shahzoda was being indicted in a court of law. The merging of two worlds had plenty of rewards too. Shahzoda expanded her Persian readership well beyond Tajik readers in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. She recalled writing in Tajik and asking Mehdi to circle words and expressions unfamiliar to Iranian readers.
“One should speak of many Persians, not just a bounded, singular language,” said Shelley. When asked about the highlight of the residency, Asef and Shahzoda, who had not met each other before, said that becoming acquainted in Seattle was memorable and generative. For those participating across these events, the takeaway was forcefully clear: Persian, a language mediated by different scripts and national cultures, is cultivating new identities and accruing new homes. The authors hoped that such newly forged connections would lead to a new transnational Persian register.
One wonders, could Shahzoda have imagined that one day in the distant future she would bring her own books to Seattle, to sit on shelves side by side dozens of Tajik books that she saved from the Uzbek regime’s fiery purge. One may now ask, what other futures are possible?
---MELC is grateful to community members who generously donated in honor of Iraj Khademi; we thank Amoo Iraj’s daughter and granddaughter, who had traveled from L.A. to attend the residency events; and we are, as always, grateful to Peyvand NPO for cosponsoring the events.
