Afghan American Artists' and Writers' Association

Afghan American Artists' and Writers' Association AAAWA organizes community exhibitions, creative workshops, and public commentaries that critically analyze discourse on Afghanistan in the U.S. mainstream.

We are proud to announce that our anthology, EMERGENC(Y): Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of W...
06/11/2026

We are proud to announce that our anthology, EMERGENC(Y): Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of Writing from Afghanistan and its Diaspora, edited by AAAWA members Sahar Muradi (Sahar Muradi) and Seelai Karzai (Seelai Karzai) in 2023 is now available for purchase at Printed Matter (Printed Matter, Inc.) in Chelsea, NY! 

Click the link in our bio to purchase directly from Printed Matter, or visit in person to pick up a copy (231 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001). Thank you for helping us amplify the work of these Afghan artists and writers! 

📸 Photo Credit: Sabrina Barekzai (Sabrina)

About the Anthology: 

Emergenc(y): Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of Writing from Afghanistan and its Diaspora is a collection of work by 29 writers edited by poets Seelai Karzai and Sahar Muradi and published by the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association (AAAWA). Originally released in conjunction with an exhibit curated by Gazelle Samizay (Gazelle Samizay) and Katayoun Bahrami (Katayoun Bahrami) held at UC Berkeley’s Worth Ryder Art Gallery from February 2023 until March 2023, the publication brings together 29 Afghan writers: women, men, q***r folks, natives and diasporans, elders and young people, as well as writers presently displaced in Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Norway, and Pakistan.

The collection includes 32 contributions spanning poetry, memoir, essay, and fiction, as well as four pieces of visual art from the exhibit. The writers address themes of trauma, suffering, and displacement, while also moving beyond dominant representations of Afghans as passive victims by critiquing a world of impenetrable borders to reimagine and reconstruct their futures. The anthology lives on as a permanent artifact memorializing Afghans’ creative expression in the face of great upheavals, and imagining more just and equitable futures.

Longtime AAAWA member Leila Nadir (.c.nadir) published this op-ed in Salon.com responding to the new US policies persecu...
12/16/2025

Longtime AAAWA member Leila Nadir (.c.nadir) published this op-ed in Salon.com responding to the new US policies persecuting Afghan immigrants in the wake of the shooting in DC. She traces the reverberations of the US’s long history of involvements and wars in Afghanistan, from World War 2 through the “Cold War” and the “War on Terror,” showing how US presidents continually reinvent new narratives about Afghanistan to rewrite history and erase the past. In her reflections on this essay, Leila has written, “I truly believe––no, I know––that we will never understand American history until we confront what the US has done in Afghanistan.”

Click the link in our bio to read the full article.  https://www.salon.com/2025/12/13/afghanistans-tragedy-from-reagans-nation-of-heroes-to-trumps-hellhole-on-earth/

Please support one of AAAWA’s collaborating writers, Mozhdeh Ahmadi to begin her medical studies. Mozhdeh is an Afghan r...
07/30/2025

Please support one of AAAWA’s collaborating writers, Mozhdeh Ahmadi to begin her medical studies. Mozhdeh is an Afghan refugee (and brilliant writer & translator) living in Indonesia and was recently accepted into the graduate program in epidemiology at Columbia University in New York City with the aim of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon addressing global health disparities. As an Afghan citizen, Mozhdeh is prohibited from coming to the US under the travel ban, but she can start her classes online. As a refugee in Indonesia, she is prohibited from having paid employment. Columbia’s tuition is scandalously expensive, even for remote classes. To take the minimum of 2 courses, Mozhdeh needs to raise $12,948 by September, and as of this writing, she has raised only about $2000! She needs any support; if you are able to give at all, please do so at the link in our bio. And if you can’t give monetarily, please consider sharing her campaign.

A little more about Mozhdeh: she is a core member of the archipelago collective, a transnational community of writers and artists. Check out her stories and poetry on their online journal. In 2023, AAAWA published her moving story “The Promise of the Young Generation” in our anthology “EMERGENC(Y): Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of Writing from Afghanistan and its Diaspora.” She was also a featured reader in our Assembly of Moths art showcase in 2022 to support vulnerable artists of Afghan heritage.

We hope you can support Mozhdeh’s journey and make it possible for her to begin her studies in just a few weeks.

Please support one of AAAWA’s collaborating writers, Mozhdeh Ahmadi to begin her medical studies. Mozhdeh is an Afghan r...
07/30/2025

Please support one of AAAWA’s collaborating writers, Mozhdeh Ahmadi to begin her medical studies. Mozhdeh is an Afghan refugee (and brilliant writer & translator) living in Indonesia and was recently accepted into the graduate program in epidemiology at Columbia University in New York City with the aim of becoming a cardiovascular surgeon addressing global health disparities. As an Afghan citizen, Mozhdeh is prohibited from coming to the US under the travel ban, but she can start her classes online. As a refugee in Indonesia, she is prohibited from having paid employment. Columbia’s tuition is scandalously expensive, even for remote classes. To take the minimum of 2 courses, Mozhdeh needs to raise $12,948 by September, and as of this writing, she has raised only about $2000! She needs any support; if you are able to give at all, please do so at the link in our bio. And if you can’t give monetarily, please consider sharing her campaign.

Thank you, Sahar jan. I noticed one typo and an incomplete sentence in the second paragraph. Here is a suggested revision for that section:

A little more about Mozhdeh: she is a core member of the archipelago collective, a transnational community of writers and artists. Check out her stories and poetry on their online journal. In 2023, AAAWA published her moving story “The Promise of the Young Generation” in our anthology “EMERGENC(Y): Writing Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War: An Anthology of Writing from Afghanistan and its Diaspora.” She was also a featured reader in our Assembly of Moths art showcase in 2022 to support vulnerable artists of Afghan heritage.

We hope you can support Mozhdeh’s journey and make it possible for her to begin her studies in just a few weeks. 

We hereby invite you to a virtual informational session led by the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic and hosted by Afghans ...
07/14/2025

We hereby invite you to a virtual informational session led by the Canada-US Border Rights Clinic and hosted by Afghans For A Better Tomorrow + Afghan American Artists and Writers’ Association. This event will take place this Monday at 2p ET/11a PT via Zoom. We will over live interpretation into Dari and Pashto. Panelists will not be able to offer individualized legal advice on a case-by-case basis.

You must register to attend.

https://bit.ly/uscanref

برادران و خواهران عزیز،

ما شما را صمیمانه دعوت می‌نماییم به یک نشست معلوماتی مجازی که توسط کلینیک حقوق مرزی کانادا-امریکا رهبری می‌شود و به میزبانی «افغان‌ها برای فردای بهتر» و «انجمن نویسندگان و هنرمندان افغان-امریکایی» برگزار می‌گردد. این برنامه روز دوشنبه آینده، ساعت ۲ بعد از ظهر به وقت شرق امریکا / ۱۱ قبل از ظهر به وقت غرب امریکا از طریق زوم برگزار خواهد شد.

ترجمه زنده به زبان‌های دری و پشتو فراهم خواهد بود.

لطفاً توجه داشته باشید که سخنرانان قادر به ارائه مشوره حقوقی اختصاصی در مورد دوسیه‌های فردی نخواهند بود.

برای شرکت در این برنامه، حتماً باید ثبت‌نام نمایید.

📍San Francisco, CA • Please join AAAWA member Gazelle Samizay () / to experience “Compassionate Exclusion: An Escape Ro...
12/02/2024

📍San Francisco, CA • Please join AAAWA member Gazelle Samizay () / to experience “Compassionate Exclusion: An Escape Room” at 447 Minna on December 4-8!

Event Description:

Step into a gripping narrative of survival and choice inspired by the real-life challenges Afghans faced during the 2021 US-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. In this immersive escape room experience, artist Gazelle Samizay () and game designer Ramsey Nasser () created a narrative that explores the complexities of seeking refuge in a fictional war-torn country.

🌟 Opening Reception
📅 Wednesday, December 4th
⏰ 5:30-8 PM PST
📍 447 Minna, San Francisco

✨ Supported by a grant from the , this is more than a game—it’s a chance to reflect, connect, and grow.

🔗 Mark your calendars and click the link in bio for ticket info!

On Monday, October 7th, from 7-8:30pm ET, please join Maine Lit Fest () for a panel on "Intimate Geopolitics: Reverberat...
09/25/2024

On Monday, October 7th, from 7-8:30pm ET, please join Maine Lit Fest () for a panel on "Intimate Geopolitics: Reverberations of Empire Across Centuries and Continents." Organized by Maine Lit Fest Fellow Leila Nadir () featuring .n.alyan, .sahar, . You don't want to miss this free event!

The panel will explore the rocketing and ricocheting of American foreign policies across continents, oceans, generations, diasporas, and language. With readings and conversation, the panelists will reflect on the ways that US bombs and drones unleashed in "faraway" wars, far from the popular American imagination, invade our bodies, memories, families, homes, and dreams within US borders and beyond. This panel takes place on October 7th, the anniversary of the US's invasion of Afghanistan.

Featured authors include Hala Alyan (author of the novel The Arsonists’ City and the poetry collection The Moon That Turns You Back), Sahar Muradi (author of the poetry collection OCTOBERS), Jen Soriano (author of Nervous: Essays on Heritage & Healing), and Maine Lit Fest Fellow Leila Nadir ().

Register at the link in our bio or here: https://www.mainewriters.org/calendar/geopolitics-litfest.

“Our Dead, Their Circuses,” by Durkhanai Ayubi (), published in the AAAWA anthology Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War,...
08/22/2024

“Our Dead, Their Circuses,” by Durkhanai Ayubi (), published in the AAAWA anthology Afghan Lives Beyond the Forever War, 2023. August 15, 2024, marks the third year since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover. As Human Rights Watch has noted, Afghanistan is “experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with aid severely underfunded, thousands of Afghans forced back into Afghanistan from Pakistan, and thousands of others expecting to emigrate to Western countries still waiting.” Afghans in Afghanistan are living through gender apartheid, acute food insecurity, and a crackdown on dissent. Here in the United States, newly arrived families are facing many struggles in their journeys to survive and thrive in their new environments.

Please support Afghans and their right to safety, food, health care, and education here and at home by following and donating to organizations such as:

Uplift Afghanistan Fund
Afghans for a Better Tomorrow
Women for Afghan Women

Nowruz and Ramadan Mubarak to all who observe! The Afghan American Artists and Writers Association wishes you a new year...
03/22/2024

Nowruz and Ramadan Mubarak to all who observe! The Afghan American Artists and Writers Association wishes you a new year full of peace, justice, and brighter days ahead. We hope all those who are able to observe the monthlong fast of Ramadan gain an abundance of blessings while surrounded by those you love.

📸: Photo by AAAWA co-founder Sahar Muradi (.sahar) of her family's beautiful haft sin table.

Please visit for this special program on Saturday, March 16, 2024 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. PT. Free and open to the publi...
03/15/2024

Please visit for this special program on Saturday, March 16, 2024 from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. PT.
Free and open to the public.

Event Description:

Join 2022 Artist in Residence Gazelle Samizay for a screening of the video work from her multimedia installation The Ink of Identity: Rereading Afghanistan!

Emerging from Samizay’s desire to critically engage with and disrupt prevailing narratives in the SFPL’s extensive collection of books on Afghanistan (dating back to 1762), this exhibition explored the complexities of Afghan identity and the impact of Western-authored literature on the understanding of Afghan history and culture, with a particular focus on Afghan American perspectives.

As part of her process, Samizay presented select library books to Afghan Americans, prompting responses and reflections via video. The material, some of which was unfamiliar to the interviewees, sparked questions about their own identities and lineages and often times the sharing of intimate personal and familial stories. The conversations captured a sense of distance from their homeland, not only geographically but also temporally, as the interviewees explored aspects of Afghanistan that have been lost over time.

Following the screening, Samizay will be in conversation with author and interviewee Tamim Ansary.

🔗: Link in bio for more info

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231 11th Ave
New York, NY
10001

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