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Gratitudes
- University of Arkansas Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
G R A T I T U D E S This collection reflects the vision and vibrancy of so many people. I would first like to thank all the writers who entrusted me with their poetry and prose and allowed me to gather their individual work in this symphony of women’s voices.It is my hope that they will continue to write and to find avid readers and supportive publishers for their work. I owe special thanks to Parissa Milani,who first proposed the idea for this collection. Over the several years it took to gather the writing in Let MeTellYouWhere I’ve Been, Parissa helped push the project along and believed in it even when I lost some of my ambition to motherhood . Her inspiration and warmth are everywhere in these pages. I would also like to thank some of the wonderful students who passed through my classes and then through my office doors, helping me with the long process and busywork of compiling and organizing this anthology. The energy and devotion of Deepthi Welaratna and Tara Coburn were invaluable in the early stages of this project. Jahanshah Javid, the founder, creator, and editor of Iranian.com, an online magazine dedicated to serving the Iranian diaspora community ,has been an indispensable part of this project.Without Jahanshah’s support over the past decade, many of these writers would never have developed the confidence to write as much or as well as they do today. His magazine has launched many a writing career. I would like to thank Joel Peckham for generously contributing some of Susan Atefat-Peckham’s more recent, unpublished poems to this collection. Her voice adds so much to this collection, and I am honored to have it expressed so strongly here. Without the diligence,devotion,and insight of my friend Destiny Lewis, this project might have lain dormant another year in my desk drawer. She was as dedicated to this book as any of these writers are to their craft.Similarly,Jacob Coltrane Burris’s involvement in the final stages of editing helped create a coherence and order through the entire collection. I have been blessed to have the support and faith of my family, particularly my lovely, late father, Alexander Karim, my dear mother, xvii Evelyne Karim, and my two sons, Niko and Kyle. Their love, and the love and nudging of my superb editor-husband, Craig Strang, make me a better person and writer. Many thanks go to Carol Sickman-Garner, whose passionate interest and careful editing made this an even stronger manuscript. Finally, every book needs a visionary editor/publisher, and it is thanks to Larry Malley and the folks at the University of Arkansas Press that projects like this see the light of day.I am grateful for their enthusiasm and their support of literature that all too often is marginalized and compromised in the world of publishing. xviii GRATITUDES ...