Born in Iran, Susan is forced to flee in order to escape an arranged marriage, leaving her mother and everything she has known behind. Years later, Susan has settled in Erbil where she must continue to navigate the daily threat of racial prejudice and a violent patriarchal society. Yet even as she struggles to survive, life is further disturbed by the approach of ISIS in 2014. Like many others, Susan is forced to make a life changing decision. Stay in Erbil and let ISIS decide her fate? Or risk everything in search of a freedom she had never known? The subjection and danger that Susan must overcome during her gruelling journey shows an instinct for survival and human resilience that is truly eye opening. A Lullaby in the Desert may share one woman’s fight for survival, but it shows the reality that many have, and still, face.

    

    The lives of Damian and Anna, both from Oxford University, become enmeshed with two Iranians, Arash, a poet, and his older brother Reza, a student sympathetic to the problems of the dissident writers in Iran, who is also a would-be photojournalist, interested in capturing the rebellion on the streets.The novel draws on Sheila Llewellyn’s own experience of living in Tabriz through the winter of 1978, during the last chaotic months before the revolution took hold in January 1979.It is a powerful portrayal of the fight for artistic freedom, young love and the legacies of conflict.

    Barely two months later, the Iranian People’s Fada’i Guerrillas officially announced their existence and began a long, drawn-out urban guerrilla war against the Shah’s regime. In Call to Arms, Ali Rahnema provides a comprehensive history of the Fada’is, beginning by asking why so many of Iran’s best and brightest chose revolutionary Marxism in the face of absolutist rule. He traces how radicalised university students from different ideological backgrounds morphed into the Marxist Fada’is in 1971, and sheds light on their theory, practice and evolution. While the Fada’is failed to directly bring about the fall of the Shah, Rahnema shows they had a lasting impact on society and they ultimately saw their objective achieved.

    Middle Eastern Studies. Edited by Christopher Nelson. Introduction by Kaveh Bassiri. ESSENTIAL VOICES series intends to bridge English-language readers to cultures misunderstood and under- or misrepresented. It has at its heart the ancient idea that poetry can reveal our shared humanity. The anthology features 130 poets and translators from ten countries; including Garous Abdolmalekian; Kaveh Akbar; Kazim Ali; Reza Baraheni; Kaveh Bassiri; Simin Behbahani; Athena Farrokhzad; Forugh Farrokhzad; Persis Karim; Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak; Sara Khalili; Esma'il Kho'i; Abbas Kiarostami; Mimi Khalvati; Fayre Makeig; Anis Mojgani; Yadollah Roya'i; SAID; Amir Safi; H.E. Sayeh; Roger Sedarat; Sohrab Sepehri; Ahmad Shamlu; Solmaz Sharif; Niloufar Talebi; Jean Valentine; Stephen Watts; Sholeh Wolp�; Nima Yushij; and many others.