I have the pleasure of participating in a
panel discussion at the 2016 Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Conference on the topic of Nontraditional War Stories. In the panel Qais Akbar Omar, Olivia Kate Cerrone, Mieke Eerkens, Mariette Katherine Kalinowski and I will explore military
and war narratives that break from what has become the formula for mainstream
war stories: those focused on western male combat soldiers. Our thought is that
offering different perspectives—from men and women living in war zones, female
veterans, aid workers, journalists, family members and others—will give voice to minority and disenfranchised (and often stereotyped) populations and expand
public understanding of what it means to be affected by war.
Since we cannot hope to capture all
perspectives in our panel of five, we've compiled a list of recommended
reading, below. This list is not all-inclusive, but we hope to update it and
add titles as we learn of them. At this point (with a couple exceptions), the
books included only come from the last 10-15 years and focus on contemporary
conflicts in the greater Middle East. Narratives about military spouses are not
represented—that is an important and thriving sub-genre that would swell this
list far beyond its current size.
If you have a recommended read or resource on this topic, please share in the comments.
Abulhawa, Susan: The Blue Between Sky and Water; Mornings in
Jenin (fiction, Palestine, local voices)
Addario, Lynsey: It’s What I Do (memoir, war
photographer)
Akbar Omar, Qais: A Fort of Nine Towers (memoir, Afghanistan,
local voices)
Alexander, Jessica: Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of
Humanitarian Aid (memoir)
Alsanea, Rajaa:
Girls of Riyadh (reportage/biography, Saudi Arabia, local voices)
Ansary, Nina:
Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran (reportage, local
voices)
Antoon, Sinan:
The Corpse Washer (fiction, Iraq, local voices)
Aslam, Nadeem:
The Wasted Vigil (fiction, Afghanistan, local voices)
Bahari, Maziar:
Rosewater (memoir, Iran)
Baker, Kim:
The Taliban Shuffle (memoir, Afghanistan/Pakistan, journalist) *Basis
for the movie
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Barghouti, Mourid: I Saw Ramallah (memoir, Palestine, local voices)
Bell, Elana:
Eyes, Stones (poetry, Israel/Palistine)
Benedict, Helen: The Lonely Soldier (reportage, female
veterans)
Blair, Jane:
Hesitation Kills (memoir, Iraq, female veteran)
Blasim, Hassan:
The Corpse Exhibition and Other Stories of Iraq (fiction, local voices)
Bowden, Lisa and Shannon Cain (editors): Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks from
Vietnam to Iraq
Chayes, Sarah:
The Punishment of Virtue (reportage/memoir, Afghanistan, aid worker)
Clark, Peter (editor): Emerging Arab Voices (fiction/anthology,
local voices)
Copaken Kogan, Deborah: Shutterbabe (memoir,
Afghanistan/Zimbabwe/Romania/Russia/Haiti, photojournalist)
Crow, Tracey:
Eyes Right (memoir, female veteran)
Darwish, Mahmoud: If I Were Another; Why Did You Leave the
Horse Alone? (poetry, Palistine, local voices)
Douaihy, Jabbour: Autumn Equinox; June Rain (fiction, Lebanon,
local voices)
Duy, Nguyen: Distant Road (poetry, Vietnam, local voices)
Ebadi, Shirin:
Iran Awakening; Until We Are Free (memoir, Iran, local voices)
Fathi, Nazila:
The Lonely War (memoir/reportage, Iran, local voices)
Gidali, Orit:
Twenty Girls to Envy Me: (poetry, Israel, local voices) *to be released
July 2016
Gopal, Anand:
No Good Men Among the Living (reportage, Afghanistan, local voices)
Hamid, Mohsin:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (fiction, Pakistan, local voices)
Halloran, Colin D: Icarian flux (poetry, homefront, PTSD
explored through persona and metaphor)
*Halloran’s
first collection, Shortly Thereafter, addresses war more explicitly; several
poems feature nontraditional perspectives (Full disclosure: Colin is my husband)
Hoffman, Cara:
Be Safe, I Love You (fiction, Iraq, female veteran)
Hosseini, Khaled: The Kite Runner; A Thousand Splendid Suns; And
the Mountains Echoed (fiction, Afghanistan, local voices)
Housden, Roger:
Saved by Beauty (memoir/travel writing, Iran)
Johnson, Shoshanna and ML Doyle: I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier
to Free Citizen (memoir, Iraq, female veteran)
Jubber, Nicholas: Drinking Arak Off An Ayatollah’s Beard
(memoir/reportage, Iran/Afghanistan, local voices, travel writing)
Kachachi, Inaam: American Granddaughter (fiction, Iraq, local
voices)
Karimi-Hakkak, Ahmad and Nahid Mozaffari
(editors): Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature (anthology,
Iran, local voices)
Khadra, Yasmina: The Swallows of Kabul (fiction, Afghanistan,
local voices)
King Feuerman, Ruchama: In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (fiction,
Israel, local voices)
MacFarquhar, Neil: The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah
Wishes You a Happy Birthday (memoir/reportage)
Mahony, Phillip (editor): From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and its Aftermath (Vietnam, local voices)
Majd, Hooman:
The Ministry of Guidance Invites You to Not Stay (memoir/travel writing,
Iran)
Mikhail, Dunya:
Fifteen Iraqi Poets (anthology, local voices)
Moaveni, Azadeh: Lipstick Jihad (memoir, Iran, local voices)
Navai, Ramita:
City of Lies (biography/reportage, Iran, local voices)
Papernick, John: The Ascent of Eli Israel and Other Stories
(fiction, Israel, local voices)
Pari and Ahmad Aria: Washing the Dust From Our
Hearts: Poetry & Prose from Writers of the Afghan Women’s Writing Project
Percy, Jennifer: Demon Camp (reportage/memoir, Afghanistan/homefront,
PTSD/inherited trauma
*As
a journalist, Percy has also written extensively about conflict in many
regions, from many nontraditional perspectives
Radnoti, Miklos: Clouded Sky (poetry, Hungary/WWII concentration camp, local voices)
Richey, Frances: The Warrior: A Mother’s Story of a Son at War
(poetry, homefront)
Roy-Bhattacharya, Joydeep: The Watch (fiction, Afghanistan, local
voices)
Sabar, Ariel:
My Father’s Paradise (memoir, Iraq, local voices)
Sasson, Jean:
Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (biography, Iraq, local voices); American Chick
in Saudi Arabia (memoir)
Schultz, Katey:
Flashes of War (short fiction)
Seierstad, Asne: The Bookseller of Kabul (reportage/biography,
Afghanistan, local voices)
Seraji, Mahbod:
Rooftops of Tehran (fiction, Iran, local voices)
Shavit, Ari:
My Promised Land (memoir/reportage, Israel/Palestine, local voices)
Shehadeh, Raja:
Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine (memoir,
Palestine, local voices)
Strick van Linschoten, Alex and Felix Kuehn
(editors): Poetry of the Taliban
(Afghanistan, local voices)
Sultan, Masuda:
My War at Home (memoir, Afghanistan, local voices)
Tolan, Sandy:
The Lemon Tree (biography/memoir, Israel/Palistine, local voices)
Trussoni, Danielle: Falling Through the Earth (memoir, Vietnam,
PTSD/inherited trauma)
Tzemach Lemmon, Gayle: Ashley’s War (reportage, Afghanistan, female
veterans); The Dressmaker of Khair Khana (local voices)
Various:
My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored
Iranian Voices
Wahab, Saima:
In My Father’s Country (memoir, Afghanistan, local voices)
Williams, Kayla: Love My Rifle More than You (memoir, Iraq, female veteran);
Plenty of Time When We Get Home (memoir, Iraq/homefront, PTSD, caretaer)
Wolpe, Sholeh (translator/editor): Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad; The
Forbidden: Poems from Iran and its Exiles
Other Resources:
For a comprehensive list of writing by female
veterans throughout history, Navy Veteran/writer/editor Jerri Bell is compiling an extensive Bibliography on her website
For links to writing by and about military
spouses (and other military and book-related themes) check out the Military Spouse Book Review
The Time Now blog, curated by retired Army colonel and literature professor Peter Molin, offers reviews and commentary on "The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars in Art, Film, and Literature"
