AN IQRA DIALOGUE SERIES • VOLUME 1Between Silence
and Return
A book of art, image, and poetic witness — fifteen art pieces and the prose they have called forth, for the women and girls of Afghanistan.
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIASEPTEMBER 21, 2026INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
I.
DEPARTURE · THE THRESHOLD
II.
DISTANCE · THE EMBRACE ABOVE THE CITY
III.
RETURN · THE THREE SELVESBEGINA LETTER FROM ANOSHAMy Sisters and brothers,
On the morning of September 21, 2026 — the International Day of Peace — Kimia and Anosha Zereh will open this book together, to the world, and place it into your hands. This is an invitation to join us.
Between Silence and Return is the first volume of an ongoing dialogue between an Afghan artist and an Afghan writer. Fifteen art pieces. Fifteen reflections. Three movements — Departure, Distance, Return — and one long contemplation on what it means to leave a country, a body, or a self behind, and to keep living.
I want to tell you why we are making this book, and why the date matters.
Afghan women are nomadic eagles.
We have been written for, and encoded for, and narrated about, and explained — for decades. Empires have written us. Regimes have written us. News cycles have written us. Even our allies, with the gentlest of hands, have written us. Now, in this book, Kimia and I are saying: enough.
Let us walk our own way home to ourselves. Let us paint our own bodies in our own colors. Let us write our own threshold, our own distance, our own return. We are done being the subject of someone else's sentence. We are the sentence now.
And to my sisters around the globe — if you want to be free, you must understand this one thing: my freedom is interdependent on your freedom. There has never been another arrangement. We are one bird, flying into different parts of the world. The Afghan wing, the Iranian wing, the Syrian, the Sudanese, the Ukrainian, the Palestinian, the Yazidi, the Kurdish, the Rohingya, the Uyghur, the Tigrayan — and every sister in her own private country who has had to leave something the world refused to name.
A one-winged bird cannot soar.
Come, my love — and help me fly high. I will help you fly high. This is the only flight there is. This is the only flight there has ever been.
On September 21, 2026, we gather in Berkeley for a reading, an installation of Kimia's art pieces, and a quiet hour together. If you cannot come in person, pre-order the book and walk this threshold with us from wherever you are reading. If you would like the slower path — the monthly letter, the drafts, the art pieces as they arrive — join the circle. One letter a month. No noise. You can leave any time.
However you find your way to us, you are already here. The book is the beginning of the gathering.
— Anosha Zereh
BERKELEY · MAY 2026ABOUT THE BOOKA book of art, image, and poetic witness.
The first volume in an ongoing dialogue between an Afghan artist and an Afghan writer — fifteen art pieces and the prose they have called forth — gathered into a long contemplation on threshold, exile, and homecoming.
The art pieces are by Kimia (Angela Gulistani), an Afghan artist who has lived inside Afghanistan and tasted all its flavors — from a Kabul girlhood through the long years under the Taliban. She creates what she has seen, and what she has refused to forget. She now resides in Germany.
The prose is by Anosha Zereh, an Afghan writer and poet raised in the diasporic California milieu — a first-generation refugee daughter who has spent most of her adult life walking alongside the women of her homeland through education, vocational training, and contemplative practice rooted in Sufi tradition and cultural memory.
Together, they move through three movements — Departure, Distance, Return — making a book for the women and girls of Afghanistan, and for every sister around the globe who has had to leave a country, a body, or a self behind in order to keep living.
We fight together as sisters around the globe — until all are free, no one is free.
FORTHCOMING FROM GATEWAY PRESS · SEPTEMBER 21, 2026 · INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACEJOIN USAn evening of poetry, image, and silence.
Berkeley, California · Monday, September 21, 2026 — the International Day of Peace. A reading, an installation of Kimia's art pieces, and a quiet hour together.
RSVP for Berkeley
Save a seat for the launch evening on September 21, 2026. We'll send venue and arrival details four weeks before.
Want to pre-order?
Pre-orders open August 2026. Join the list to be the first to know — with a launch-week price.
Join the circle
A monthly letter from Anosha on the making of the book — short essays, drafts, and the occasional poem.
Anosha Zereh
WRITER · POET · CONTEMPLATIVE GUIDEAnosha Zereh is an Afghan-American writer and poet based in Berkeley, California. She is the founder of Iqra Publishing & Media. For more than fifteen years she has served the women of Afghanistan through education, vocational training, and contemplative practice rooted in Sufi tradition and cultural awareness. She writes between English, Farsi, and Dari — at the threshold of poetry, spiritual teaching, and witness.
Kimia (Angela Gulistani)
ARTISTKimia is an Afghan-born artist who has lived inside Afghanistan and carries its colors, textures, and seasons in her hand. Working now from Germany, she renders the inner lives of Afghan women with unsparing tenderness.
The fifteen art pieces of Between Silence and Return are her first sustained collaboration in book form. Three are previewed here. The remaining twelve arrive by summer.
STAY CLOSEBe the first to know — pre-order, RSVP, and pre-launch dispatches.
One email a month. No noise. You can leave any time.
Gateway Press · An imprint of Iqra Publishing & Media · Berkeley, California