One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature,
co-edited with Zohra Saed, is available from University of Arkansas Press
Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi at the Sharjah International Book Fair in 2010, where the anthology was launched.
One Story, Thirty Stories—"Afsanah, Seesaneh," the Afghan equivalent of "once upon a time"—comprises 50 selections of poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, and blog entries from 33 writers―poets, fiction writers, journalists, filmmakers and video artists, photographers, community leaders and organizers, and diplomats from across Afghan America. The pieces in this rich anthology reveal journeys in a new land and culture. They show people trying to come to grips with a life in exile, or they trace the migration maps of parents. They grapple with the Soviet invasion, the civil war of the 1990s, the rise of the Taliban, and the American occupation.
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From the Introduction: “What is overtly known about Afghanistan and Afghans is war, destruction, and ruins, with a streak of red poppy fields and blue burqas to color the two-dimensional images of this small and landlocked country. What we offer in this first anthology of Afghan American literature is beyond these stereotypical images. It is now most urgent for us to ask, “What does it mean to be Afghan American at a time of war? How does the Afghan interlace with the American at a time when occupying these two geographic spaces in harmony seems less and less possible?”
“One Story, Thirty Stories is exquisite documentary, a kaleidoscope of fragmented lives, losses, and attempts at re-making. The editors have assembled a collection that manages to be both literature and history, both heartbreaking and hopeful, both educational and lyrical. From the daughter of a cab driver to the daughter of an imam, from a crack dealer to a standup comic to an ambassador, the writers in this book offer not only poignant testimony but also form a who’s who of Afghans in the United States. An invaluable, accessible resource for anyone who cares about what America is doing in, and to, Afghanistan.”
— Minal Hajratwala
“From a society shredded by violence and a generation caught between Afghanistan and America, Saed and Muradi have sewn together a vibrant patchwork of memory and imagination. At turns raw and affecting, One Story, Thirty Stories is a chronicle of loss and reunion, offering a firsthand look at how communities are fractured and remade, with all the frustration and tenderness that exile evokes.”