WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM - Bänoo Zan, Cy Strom, and contributors

Join us for the Toronto launch of Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution! With editors Bänoo Zan, Cy Strom, and contributors Elana Wolff, Hollay Ghadery, Kate Marshall Flaherty, Mahdi Ganjavi, Fereshteh Molavi, Nilou Doust, Katerina Fretwell, and Kate Marshall Flaherty.

ABOUT THE BOOK
This international anthology marks a world-historical moment: the first ever feminist revolution. The slogan chanted by the demonstrators in Iran is Woman, Life, Freedom, and it encompasses hopes and ideals for all people everywhere. This anthology echoes that cry. The poems here might be reflections on the present moment, denunciations of injustice, examinations of the poet’s own conscience, laments for the fallen, bitter curses, prayers, celebrations of life, and visions of a better future. Bänoo and Cy aim to raise awareness of the women’s revolution in Iran and show the world that this cause is alive and will not be put down.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Bänoo Zan is a self-exiled poet, librettist, translator, teacher, editor and poetry curator, with numerous published pieces and three books. Songs of Exile was shortlisted for Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Letters to My Father was published in 2017. She uses symbolism, oxymoron and allusions to myth, religion, and culture and has been called a political, metaphysical, and spiritual poet. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), Toronto’s most diverse poetry reading and open mic series (inception: 2012). A contract faculty member at Centennial College, she teaches ESL and English to international and domestic students. Bänoo, along with Cy Strom, is the co-editor of the poetry anthology: Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution.

Cy Strom works as an editor. He holds MA and MPhil degrees from Columbia University in early modern European history and has published in academic and other areas. He edits in different genres and sometimes languages, and has had a role in developing professional editorial standards and educational materials. Cy and Iranian-born poet Bänoo Zan are co-editors of the forthcoming poetry anthology Woman Life Freedom: Poems for the Iranian Revolution (Guernica Editions, 2025).