Talking through the Door

An Anthology of Contemporary Middle Eastern American Writing

The writers included here are descendants of multiple cultural heritages
and reflect the perspectives of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds:
Egyptian, Iranian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Libyan, Palestinian, Syrian.
They are from diverse socioeconomic classes and spiritual sensibilities:
Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and atheist, among others. Yet they coexist in
this volume as simply American voices.
Atefat-Peckham gathered poetry and prose from sixteen accomplished
writers whose works concern a variety of themes: from the familial cross–
cultural misunderstandings and conflicts in the works of Iranian American
writers Nahid Rachlin and Roger Sedarat to the mysticism of Khaled Mattawa‘
s poems; from the superstitions that govern characters in Diana Abu-
Jaber‘s prose to the devastating homesickness in Pauline Kaldas‘s characters.
Filled with emotion and keen observations, this collection showcases
these writers‘ vital contributions to contemporary American literature.