Today, we’re taking a look back at one of the most powerful women voices from Afghanistan: selections from the brilliant and tragic Dark Flower by Nadia Anjuman, translated by Diana Arterian with Marina Omar we published in NTM 2016.

Nadia Anjuman was a rising poetry star who attended Herat University and published Dark Flower in 2005. Her book was read widely not only in Afghanistan, but also in Iran, Pakistan, and beyond, and gave a voice to millions of oppressed women trapped in fundamentalist societies. In November 2005, Anjuman’s husband beat her and Anjuman ultimately died from the injuries at her head. In 2007, Anjuman’s complete works were published in the original Persian-Dari by the Iranian Burnt Books Foundation. Dark Flower has been reprinted three times and sold over three thousand copies.

CLICK HERE TO READ Dark Flower—Nadia Anjuman Translated by Diana Arterian

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman