Rainbows on Rugged Terrains

This book is featuring poetry from queer Iranians in exile in Turkey, the UK, and Canada. These poems are the outcomes of group workshops, whether in person or remotely created as part of the research project "Negotiating Queer Identities Following Forced Migration" (NQIfFM).

They vividly portray the participants' experiences of persecution and discrimination based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, both in Iran, which they were forced to leave, and in the countries of transition or resettlement.

This bilingual collection presents poems side by side with their translations. With the exception of one poem by Mehrnaz Bassiri, the poems were written in Persian, either in handwritten or typed forms, with the handwritten poetry transcribed by the editor. It is important to note and acknowledge that Persian is a second language for some of the poets, such as Sina Khosravi, and that ethnic-linguistic minorities face oppression in Iran, as the Constitution of the Islamic Republic does not recognize their mother tongues as official languages for legal and bureaucratic purposes.

The pieces in this collection offer a diverse array of experiences reflecting the journeys of queer Iranians from Iran to their current places of residence, whether temporary or permanent. These experiences encompass themes of rejection, deprivation, isolation, fear, forced migration, uprootedness, displacement, suspension, non-belonging, loss, despair, and yearning for inclusion, home, love and security. The means of expression employed include poetic imagery, metaphor, simile, allegory, wordplay, and figurative language.