God I Feel Like I Am Choking: Relisting Young In Iran
The facts: Kickstarter suspended our campaign for Young in Iran, on Feb 18, 2026, a few days before it’s completion, and after it was more than 200% funded.
NOTE: NO MONEY HAS OR WILL EVER CHANGE HANDS BETWEEN SAW AND ANY ENTITIES IN IRAN, so long as international sanctions are in effect.
Quite simply, Kickstarter, being a large company, has a lot at stake in not funning afoul of international sanctions. They were concerned that they couldn’t be sure that monies were not going to Iran.
This makes sense. We don’t want to either!
They reached out to us via email asking for clarification, but in all frankness, it looked like spam (screenshot of a spam email and a real email at bottom) and we ignored it. (Turns out you get a LOT of spam when you launch a Kickstarter!) There were no fruitful conversations in reinstating on their platform, but we feel good about their good faith efforts.
AND SO, —> we believe so much, not only in this book, but in these people, who have lived believing they are invisible, and voiceless for too long.
From our editor: “Everywhere we go, no matter what the hell we do, they won't let our voices reach anyone. God I feel like I'm choking…”
Young in Iran is a book for today. As I write this, our own government has cracked down on and killed protesters in Minneapolis and elsewhere, and the Iranian government is cracking down on, and killing protesters there, in the tens of thousands.
My contact with our friends in Iran look like this
They write, “All dictatorships resemble one another…” and “for that very reason, we believe this may be the most important time to read about Iran.”
We agree.
We also find these stories, powerful, moving, sad, even in places, funny. We want to share their lives with you.
More info can be found on our official order page, here: https://www.sequentialartistsworkshop.org/younginiran but meanwhile, you can make an order direct from us below. We expect this pre-order campaign to last until mid March of 2026 and for books to printed and shipped in the spring.
We thank you for your wise attention and care.
Tom Hart and others the Sequential Artists Workshop
We are taking the moment to reiterate: NO MONEY HAS OR WILL EVER CHANGE HANDS BETWEEN SAW AND ANY ENTITIES IN IRAN, so long as international sanctions are in effect.
Some more notes.
We at SAW took it in good faith that cultural exchange between Iranian citizens and cultural organizations in the US were, and are within legal limits. Witness this series of lectures and shows by Abbas Kiarostami at New York City’s Hunter College and Museum of Modern Art, in 2007.
Oh, here’s that sample spam email
We received a dozen like the left, and didn’t know to trust the one on the right!
This Tier
This is the book in its full, physical glory! 264 pages, 6x9 inches, soft cover, shipped to you as soon as it arrives in our warehouse. Plus a bonus PDF copy!