Young in Iran

Young in Iran

We at the Sequential Artists Workshop are thrilled to present to you Young in Iran, a book of personal stories about the daily lives of young people within Iran.

We worked with two teachers in the capital, Tehran, who guided their students through making 32 marvelous stories about freedom, lack of freedom, frustration, desire, hope, family, and the kinds of deeply human experiences we all have, but within the context of a specific, totalitarian pressure.

The Stories

There are 32 stories, divided into 4 sections, along with a prologue and epilogue. 

The prologue story, The Curtain, shows the intensity of mental illness in Iran and seeks to unite all the young people in their experiences. 

Chapter 1 focuses on Adolescence, including stories about puberty rituals and the strictures surrounding women when they come of age. 

Chapter 2, called School, shows the complex dynamics of living in both an intellectually rigorous education system and a wider culture that drastically restricts freedoms. 

Chapter 3, called Young in Iran, centers stories about being under 25, particularly elaborating on the mental health struggles first addressed in the prologue. 

Chapter 4, Those Who Leave, is about the constant disappearance, mostly through emigration, of friends and loved ones who manage to get out of the country. 

The book concludes with a reflective epilogue, To Naraq, by one of only two male artists in the book, in which the author travels to rural Iran and peacefully reflects on life and country.

Summary

This book is like nothing else on Earth—an intimate, street-level view of life in a so-called "enemy" country, through the lens of young people trying to understand the rules and possibilities of the world around them. 

Looking inside and to each other for strength, yet turning outward and seeing restrictions: What would you do in these circumstances? 

Young in Iran offers 32 glimpses into the daily lives of people grappling with the reality of this question.

Tiers and Rewards

This anthology is finished and ready to print. Its authors and editors have worked hard to complete their work on time. 

In fact, the submission deadline coincided with what became the "12-Day War" between Israel and Iran. Our editors, who had to go into hiding, wrote us and said, "Whatever happens, put out this book."

We at SAW are honored to do just that and share this remarkable work with the world.

We urge you to support these brilliant young artists living in difficult circumstances by ordering at least one copy of Young in Iran. The book is ready to print and will ship to you once our orders are compiled and the final printing has finished. 

With gratitude,

Tom, Carly, Karlo, Meg, and the editors of Young in Iran.

“WHY SWALLOWS?”

you might ask.

When we asked our students to speak about their experience of being Iranian, we knew their works would end up being very different from one another. In fact, we had a kind of patchwork quilt in mind, one that could reflect the diversity of Iranian identity.

Yet, unexpectedly, a recurring theme kept appearing in the works: migration.
Even the students whose pieces were not directly about migration were, in different ways, still grappling with the concept.

Swallows in Iran are known for being migrants, for their freedom to travel across all lands.

Unlike us Iranians, swallows don’t need visas or security checks to make their journeys. They don't have to struggle with travel bans.

This anthology is meant to travel, reaching different parts of the world. It is going to fly free!

That is why we chose the swallow: in its own way, this book, too, is a migrant.