Arab Spring Dreams

Foreword by Gloria Steinem * Introduction * PART I - TRAPPED * "I Am Not Ayman!" * Monologue with the Prince * Living Inside 1984 * Leaving Ahlam Behind * Seeking Salvation * Citizen or Subject? * At the Polling Station * Memoirs of an Egyptian Citizen * My Medal of Blasphemy * The Shredded Exam Card * The Eid al-Adha Bribe * The Tragedy of My Lover * Art in a Cage * Black Like Me * PART II - UNEQUAL * A Persian Grandmother in Tokyo* Breaking News: MP Reveals Herself as Banned Poet * The Sacred Membrane * The Cat at the Border Crossing * Women in a Maze * Women Unwelcome * The Closing of My Anonymous Blog * Hijacking the School Play * Heaven Is Beneath Mothers’ Feet * My Sacred NO! * PART III - BREAKING THROUGH * Contaminating Minds * Breaking News: Egyptian Apostate Refuses Asylum * Every Prayer Is a Gift * "The Land Is for All." * Triumph of the Half-Naked * Breaking Through the Shari’a Loophole * Student Liberation Front * Dreams in a Drawer * "Iran, I Will Build You Again" * Undermining Decree Six * Driving Toward Equality * Just Another Day in 2013 * Anonymous No More * Conclusion

Edited By Nasser Weddady and Sohrab Ahmari and Foreword By Gloria Steinem

"Some of these young writers possess more clarity than all the pundits combined.""--Times Literary Supplement"

"Arab Spring Dreams scratches well beneath the surface of the societies concerned and probes into their psychological and social fabric. And in doing so, it proves that contrary to the claims of so many Arab politicians, not everything that is wrong with the region is someone else's fault."--The Telegraph, London

"A slim volume that successfully presents 'treasures, surprises, and rewards.'" --"Kirkus Reviews"

"The genesis of this lean essay anthology actually preceded the protests in Tunis and Cairo by more than five years...Many of those visions now appear prescient..."Arab Spring Dreams "is a powerful boost for young people in the Middle East who seek to lift the curtain of obscurantism from a region desperate for daylight."--"Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs"

." . . Immediate and raw, the essays in this collection provide glimpses of daily life in countries where civil rights do not exist. Though the essay contest seemed like a quixotic gesture at its inception in 2005, it turns out to have been prescient." --"Publishers Weekly"

"You are now holding an exceptional book. It is particularly now when the eyes of the whole world are anxiously set on the Middle East that I am so eagerly looking forward to getting to know the stories which often do not make themselves heard among the brouhaha in the media. The essays collected here are a particularly important testimony and close to my heart as they are written by young courageous people who dare to dream of the things their parents never dreamt of. The book clearly demonstrates that no matter where we live or what religion we follow, certain fundamental values are universal."--Lech Walesa, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and the former President of Poland "This is a wonderful book, and a stirring testament to the truth that the desire for freedom and democracy transcends the boundaries of national