By Rebecca Morrison

I left Iran in 1979, and wrote a novel, The Blue Costume, based mostly on my childhood as an Iranian immigrant fighting physique picture, and an advanced mother-daughter relationship.

Hamid Ran fled Iran as an grownup after going through threats due to his work as a journalist. He spent years navigating the refugee course of in Turkey earlier than coming to America in 2010, and publishing his memoir, Earlier than the West: First Mild on Unknown Lands this yr.

Past the nation of our start, our experiences couldn’t be farther aside. However within the first minutes of our dialogue, I noticed how a lot we had in widespread as writers and immigrants. How we struggled with concern, disgrace, and duty as we wrote our tales, and the methods we navigated how a lot to disclose, realizing that the folks we love could also be harm by it.

Rebecca: When writing your memoir, did you consider leaving sure issues out since you nervous they may reinforce stereotypes about Iran or Iranian tradition? Have been there stuff you have been scared of claiming due to your loved ones?

Hamid: Sure. My niece translated my e book into Farsi so my household may learn it. After they learn it, they have been crying for 2 weeks. They stored saying, “Oh my God, we didn’t know you went by means of all of this.”

My household is conventional and non secular, and I discuss within the e book about being an atheist. I wished to be sincere, however scared about what would occur to my household since they nonetheless reside in Iran. I went forwards and backwards about whether or not I ought to embody it. Ultimately, I made a decision that the one means ahead was to be sincere. Different occasions it wasn’t my household, however different folks within the Iranian group. I nervous, ‘My Iranian readers are going to be upset’ about sharing the main points of the place I grew up, and the struggles we had. However I couldn’t make issues up. I wished to jot down the reality. And I felt a duty to inform this story as a result of many individuals have opinions about refugees with out ever listening to immediately from one.

One factor that wasn’t scary precisely, however was shameful, was my smoking. I by no means instructed my household that I smoked cigarettes! When my niece was translating the e book, I instructed her perhaps she ought to delete these components. She stated, “No, Uncle. It’s okay.”

Hamid: Your e book is fiction, have been a few of the pressures the identical? Did you are feeling a duty when writing about Iran and Iranian tradition, particularly realizing American readers won’t know a lot about it?

Rebecca: Completely. Folks generally assume writing a novel and a memoir are utterly totally different processes, however I struggled with the identical questions you probably did.

While you’re an immigrant writing about your tradition and your loved ones, there might be such a heaviness to that duty. Iran has been outlined within the media by so many stereotypes. While you’re writing into that house, you already know for some readers, this can be the primary Iranian story they’ve ever learn. That creates a variety of strain. I wished to be truthful about my expertise, and I wished to jot down in regards to the stunning components of Persian tradition however I additionally wished to be sincere about a few of the more durable issues I noticed rising up, particularly for women and girls. I nervous Iranian readers would possibly suppose I used to be reinforcing stereotypes. Or suppose I used to be criticizing my tradition. However I stored coming again to the identical factor you talked about: Our duty is to inform our tales as we skilled them. I attempted not to consider making Iranians look good or dangerous. The objective was to jot down one thing significant and true.

Rebecca: While you have been writing a memoir, there’s an expectation that you just’re being as correct as potential. However reminiscence is difficult. Did you ever hesitate since you weren’t positive of your recollections’ accuracy?

Hamid: I made a decision that if I wasn’t positive about one thing, I wouldn’t write it. If a reminiscence felt hazy, I left it out, even when it may need made the story stronger. For me, it was extra necessary to stick with what I actually remembered. Typically that meant leaving gaps, and I used to be okay with that as a result of it let me keep devoted to the story as I actually remembered it. 

Rebecca: Folks generally assume that as a result of I wrote a novel, I invented no matter I wished. And naturally, I did for sure components. However a lot of the e book got here from my life, and I wished these components to really feel as genuine as potential. I prevented the fuzzier recollections. I didn’t wish to power recollections that weren’t there. I didn’t wish to make up particulars I couldn’t actually see in my thoughts. I focused on the scenes I remembered, the rooms, the scenes, the colours, the sensation I had in these moments. Then I constructed the story round these truths.

Studying your memoir, Hamid, I may see your story vividly. It felt alive and actual. I trusted you because the storyteller. Whether or not we’re writing memoir or fiction, readers can inform when a scene comes from a spot of emotional reality. 

Hamid: I agree. Readers know when one thing feels actual. 

Rebecca: That’s one thing that shocked me most about our dialog. I anticipated us to spend our time discussing the variations between a refugee memoir and a novel impressed by an immigrant’s childhood. As a substitute, we stored coming again to the identical issues: The steadiness between telling the reality with out hurting the folks we love. The battle to honor our tradition with out leaning into the stereotypes. And the methods we maintain concern as we write our genuine experiences, realizing that it may include arduous penalties.

That’s what writers, particularly immigrant writers, battle with, to jot down about ourselves, our households, our nations, realizing that the end result can convey us each pleasure and ache. And that we’ve got a duty to inform the truest story we will, and hope others would possibly see themselves, or join with one other tradition in a means that reveals them a world they didn’t know earlier than. 

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Rebecca Morrison is the writer of The Blue Costume, a novel based mostly on her childhood struggles with physique picture, a strained mother-daughter relationship, and discovering belonging as an Iranian immigrant. You’ll find her at rebeccakmorrison.com.

Hamid Ran is a author and visible storyteller whose work is formed by lived expertise throughout Iran and Türkiye. His memoir, Earlier than the West: First Mild on Unknown Lands, displays his private journey by means of uncertainty, displacement, and survival.

Tagged: autofiction, immigrant writers, iranian writers, memoir