Under Eastern Skies
"Enemy...terrorism...nuclear bomb...war." These words are often used by American media to describe Iran. The image the media presents is often hazy, incomplete, and distorted. The political and military aspects of my country are covered mainly in a negative light.

In Under Eastern Eyes (I have adopted the name from the novel Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad), I will write about those topics which American media either cannot or does not want to talk about. The emphasis will be on social and cultural aspects of Iran although, out of necessity, I will talk about politics, despite my despair.
Yaghoub Yadali, born in 1970, is a writer and television director. His first work of fiction, the short-story collection Sketches in the Garden, was published in 1997. It was followed in 2001 by Probability of Merriment and Mooning, which was named book of the year by the Writers and Critics Award. His first novel, The Rituals of Restlessness, won the 2004 Golshiri Foundation Award for the best novel of the year and was named as one of the ten best novels of the decade by the Press Critics Award. He has also published many articles and reviews of literature and cinema in newspapers and magazines in Iran. 
  • Taxi
    by  / February 20, 2015

    Taxi, the newest film by renowned Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear on February 15. The Iranian government has banned Panahi from making films for 20 years.

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  • Underground Graffiti
    by  / August 22, 2014

    “This art demonstrates the creativity of the young artist(s), risking it all to share the sentiments of their generation in Iran’s closed and heavily controlled environment.” Yaghoub Yadali examines the work of Black Hand, a dissident street artist using graffiti to make a political stance.

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  • Modern Family - Iran
    “Modern Family”: Iranian, Islamic
    by  / July 25, 2014

    “Now, what happens when writers and directors copy a show from a country that is called ‘the great Satan?'” Yaghoub Yadali highlights blatant similarities that exist between an Iranian series and a popular American one and uses this case study as a window into deep-seated issues in Iranian television.

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Fearless, Ink.