This collection brings together 10 short stories written over the past 5 years by Paranda writers, published by Nogaam — a press founded by a group of young Iranian immigrants in London in 2012 that has championed writers censored in Iran since 2012, by publishing their work outside the country.
This is the first book of Afghan literature in Dari (Farsi/ Persian) published by Nogaam. The e-book is available free of charge for readers living in Iran and Afghanistan and you can purchase the printed version from Nogaam’s website.
Paranda Writers Featured in Tongueless Speaker: Masouma Kawsari, Elahe, Maryam Mahjoba, Parand, Batool Haidari, Mari Bamyani, Zainab Akhlaqi, Shamsia, Zahedeh, Tamanna Easar. Many thanks also to Azadeh Parsapour (Publisher, Nogaam), Marie (Editor, Nogaam) and Lillie Razvi Toon (Paranda Project Manager, Untold Narratives).
If you would like to read the stories published in Tonguless Speaker, but do not read in Dari, all the stories have previously been published in English-language publications:
- ‘Dogs Are Not to Blame’ was first published in English translation in the anthology My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (MacLehose Press, 2022).
- ‘The Most Beautiful Lips in the World’ was first published in English translation in the anthology My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (MacLehose Press, 2022).
- ‘Breaking News’ was first published in English translation in Critical Muslim, 2024.
- ‘Kabul’s Haikus’ was first published in English translation in The Markaz Review, 2023.
- ‘The Gray-Winged Pigeons of the Shrine’ was first published in English translation in Words Without Borders, 2024.
- ‘The Café’ was first published in English translation in Moveable Type, 2023.
- ‘Hotel’ was first published in English-translation in Pen Transmissions, 2023.
- ‘Hell is Within These Walls We Call Home’ was first published in English translation in The Markaz Review, 2024.
- ‘A Chapan the Height of Noor Jan’ was first published in English translation in Words Without Borders, 2025.
- ‘Tongueless Speaker’ was first published in English translation in Words Without Borders, 2025.
