I’ve gone back and forth on my review of this anthology. I think it really highlights the differences in experience for Kurds like myself, other ethnicities in Iran, and those viewing the revolution from an outside perspectives.

I appreciate the use of Jina Amini’s Kurdish name, though many poems chose to use Mahsa over Jina. Although brief, I also appreciated that there was a statement acknowledging that Women Life Freedom was originally a Kurdish phrase. I think it would be nice to include further history about the phrases origin in Northern Kurdistan in the early 2000s. And including the Kurdish version on the cover, as the phrase and protests began with the Kurds mourning their Kurdish sister.

The poems are beautiful and there are some that I feel properly acknowledge the Kurdish experience through the revolution so I want to give this 3.5 rounded to a 4 stars, but with the strong caveat that some of these poems also (like many non-Kurds do from day to day) whether willfully/or out of ignorance continue violence against Kurds through erasure when they speak over Kurdish pain, translate our words without proper acknowledgment, and ignore pleas from Jina’s own family to use her Kurdish name.

My sincere apologies. I clicked the "read now" button before I realized this title wasn't available in Kindle format. Because of visual impainment, I do all my non-print reading on a Kindle. I do understand, however, that Kindle doesn't allow titles to "retire" in the way other formats do, so I do appreciate why it's not offered in my preferred format. I will try to be more consistent about looking at available formats before requesting or going for "read now."

I'm giving this book five stars because I have to include a star rating to submit this form. Five stars is definitely what I was anticipating when I tried to access this book.