ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I HAVE WORKED sporadically on this project since 1998 and owe grateful acknowledgment to many family members, friends, colleagues, and publishers.

My gratitude to all of the writers included, and to the many more in our vibrant literary community, for their patience and kindness, especially to Elmaz Abinader, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Gregory Orfalea, for their help in contacting others.

Thank you to Nora Staal and Christina Van Regenmorter for their faithful assistance typing the manuscript.

At the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, I thank Stephen C. Behrendt, Ted Kooser, Hilda Raz, Doris Smith, and my many fellow graduate students who inspired me to believe I was capable of assuming this mammoth task.

At Hope College, my gratitude to Myra Kohsel, Peter Schakel, Kathleen Verduin, and especially to Jesus A. Montano, and to the Hope College administration for their financial support of my work on issues concerning the Middle East and Middle Eastern Americans. May honest judgment always guide you.

My heartfelt thanks to my new academic home, Georgia College and State University, Arts and Letters, and the MFA program in creative writing. Especially I thank David Evans, Marty Lammon, and Beth Rushing for their encouragement of my work in civil and human rights, and for their sensitive support regarding teaching and race issues.

My love and gratitude to Joel Peckham, who stands with me on raising our children with an awareness of their rich heritage, both Iranian and American.

I feel indebted to the loving examples I have found in my blessed parents, grandparents, two sons, and countless aunts, uncles, and cousins, and to the Middle Eastern blood that ties us together.

I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the following authors who have generously contributed their previously published and unpublished work to this project, and to the publishers who originally printed, sometimes in different forms, the following titles by the following authors:

Barks, Coleman

[“We talked through the door”] excerpt from “Talking through the Door,” Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A.J. Arberry, Reynold Nicholson (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 78. Copyright © 1995 Coleman Barks. Reprinted with permission.

Abinader, Elmaz

“Mothers and Daughters,” Children of the Roojme: A Family’s Journey from Lebanon, Copyright © 1997 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Reprinted courtesy of The University of Wisconsin Press.

“Preparing for Occupation,” In the Country of My Dreams (Sufi Warrior Publishing Co., Inc., 1999): 36–37.

“Flying to Arabia,” In the Country of My Dreams (Sufi Warrior Publishing Co., Inc., 1999): 13–14.

Abu-Jaber, Diana

“Tainted Love,” from Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber. Copyright © 2003 by Diana Abu-Jaber. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Atefat-Peckham, Susan

“Marvari—The Pearl Tree,” “Fariba’s Daughters,” and “Dates” are reprinted by permission from That Kind of Sleep (Coffee House Press, 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Susan Atefat-Peckham.

“Them?” North American Review (November–December 2001): 5–6.

Awad, Joseph

“A Novena for My Mother,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 1–6. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“Memories of Tiger Rag,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 12–13. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“For My Irish Grandfather,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 21–24. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“Windows,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 29. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“Aunt Anna,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 34. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“For My Lebanese Grandfather,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 20. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

“Christmas At Sithee’s,” reprinted from Shenandoah Long Ago (Poet’s Press, 1990), 10. By permission of the author. Copyright © 1990 Joseph Awad.

Bedway, Barbara

“Death and Lebanon,” The Iowa Review 12, no. 1 (1981): 50–58.

“Why We Are in the DAR,” The Iowa Review 28, no. 1 (1998): 72–77.

“Turning Lebanese: A Family Story,” The New York Times, May 22, 1982, 1.

“In Her Own Hand,” Ohio Magazine, November 1985, 23–24. Reprinted with permission, Ohio Magazine.

Geha, Joseph

“Where I’m From—Originally,” in Townships, ed. Michael Martone (University of Iowa Press, 1992), 57–66. By permission of the author.

“Stepping Out,” The Nebraska Review 22, no. 1 (1994): 36–48. By permission of the author.

Hazo, Samuel

“Understory,” “The First Sam Hazo at the Last,” and “Ahead of Time,” from As They Sail. Copyright © 1999 by Samuel Hazo. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of the University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.

Kadi, Joanna

“Writing as Resistance, Writing as Love,” Thinking Class: Sketches from a Cultural Worker (South End Press, 1996), 9–11.

“Coiled Tongues,” Thinking Class: Sketches from a Cultural Worker (South End Press, 1996), 89–91.

“Moving From Cultural Appropriation Toward Ethical Cultural Connections,” Thinking Class: Sketches from a Cultural Worker (South End Press, 1996), 115–27.

Kaldas, Pauline

“Cumin and Coriander” and “The Top” from The Time between Places: Stories That Weave In and Out of Egypt and America. Copyright © 2010 by The University of Arkansas Press. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of the University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.

“Shifting Spaces,” Letters from Cairo (Syracuse University Press, 2006), 105–11.

Marshall, Jack

“Arabian Nights” and “Deal” are reprinted by permission from Arabian Nights (Coffee House Press, 1987). Copyright © 1987 by Jack Marshall.

“G–D” is reprinted by permission from Sesame (Coffee House Press, 1993). Copyright © 1993 by Jack Marshall.

Mattawa, Khaled

“From Cordoba” [God made souls in the shapes of spheres . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Cordoba” [You look at grains of iron . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Cordoba” [The soul too in this world of clay . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Granada” [All fictions lose their story lines . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Jativa” [If the lover cannot dissuade the beloved . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Cordoba” [Nothing in the world matches two lovers . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Almeria” [Fidelity is to keep her secrets . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Almeria” [The world oppressing you and the love that spurns you . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Valencia” [There is a breaking off when the beloved . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Cordoba” [After many weeks of resisting the impulse . . .]. By permission of the author.

“From Fez” [There are times when the lover says NEVER . . .]. By permission of the author.

Melhem, D. H.

“Preface for Walt Whitman,” Country: An Organic Poem (Cross-Cultural Communications, 1998), 14. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

28. [bright world in morning light . . .], Country: An Organic Poem (Cross-Cultural Communications, 1998), 51. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

53. “Hudson Continuum,” Country: An Organic Poem (Cross-Cultural Communications, 1998), 78. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

“then/now, part one,” Rest in Love (Confrontation Press of Long Island University, 1975), 17. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

[Bookladen on Friday . . .], Rest in Love (Confrontation Press of Long Island University, 1975), 23–25. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

[Charon drives his ambulance . . .], Rest in Love (Confrontation Press of Long Island University, 1975), 41–46. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

[mother . . .], Rest in Love (Confrontation Press of Long Island University, 1975), 75. Reprinted by permission of D. H. Melhem.

Nassar, Eugene P.

“Summer 1958,” Wind of the Land (Syracuse University Press, 2002), 43–55. By permission of the author.

“Summer 1964,” Wind of the Land (Syracuse University Press, 2002), 69–78. By permission of the author.

Nye, Naomi Shihab

“The Yellow Glove,” Words under the Words: Selected Poems, A Far Corner Book (The Eighth Mountain Press, 1994), 116. By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Arabic,” 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (Harper Teen, 2005), 90. By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Jerusalem,” 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (Harper Teen, 2005), 92. By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Hold Land,” 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (Harper Teen, 2005), 94. By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“The Only Word a Tree Knows,” Words under the Words: Selected Poems, A Far Corner Book (The Eighth Mountain Press, 1994), 74. By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Renovation,” You and Yours, American Poets Continuum (BOA Editions, 2005). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Amir & Anna,” Transfer: Poems (BOA Editions, 2011). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Your Weight at Birth,” You and Yours, American Poets Continuum (BOA Editions, 2005). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Supple Cord,” A MAZE ME: Poems for Girls (Greenwillow, 2005). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“The Only Democracy in the Middle East,” Transfer: Poems (BOA Editions, 2011). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

“Because of Poems,” A MAZE ME: Poems for Girls (Greenwillow, 2005). By permission of the author, Naomi Shihab Nye, 2013.

Rachlin, Nahid

“The Calling,” Veils (City Lights Books, 1992), 95–108. Copyright © 1992 by Nahid Rachlin. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.

Sedarat, Roger

“My Mother’s 20 Persian Gold Bracelets,” From Tehran to Texas (Červená Barva Press, 2008).

“San Antonio, 1979,” From Tehran to Texas (Červená Barva Press, 2008).

“Khomeini’s Beard,” From Tehran to Texas (Červená Barva Press, 2008).

“Outing Iranians,” From Tehran to Texas (Červená Barva Press, 2008).

As Susan’s father and on her behalf, I am grateful to Deanna H. McCay, acquisitions editor at Syracuse University Press, who has extended her efforts above and beyond the call of duty for the publication of this anthology. Without her help and support this project would not have been possible. She has been truly a great facilitator.

Bahram Atefat, 2013.

THE PUBLISHER would like to acknowledge Lisa Suhair Majaj’s contributions to the publication of this volume. Lisa’s expertise guided us as we prepared the collection, particularly the editor’s introduction. We are grateful for her input.