A translator in Tehran has described the moment he discovered a copy of his own work amid the rubble of a collapsed apartment block, calling it a symbol of resilience. The book, a Persian translation of Jhumpa Lahiri's Translating Myself and Others, was torn, singed but still legible after Israeli missiles struck the city on 13 June 2025.
The translator, who chose to remain anonymous, said the sight of the damaged book reinforced his belief in the importance of preserving stories. 'It made me realise the importance of translating and protecting stories – so they remain when everything else falls away,' he told the BBC.
During the bombardment, which killed at least 23-year-old poet Parnia Abbasi, the translator's family was forced to flee. His partner left for safer towns, while his daughter sent a photo of a burning factory as her train departed. The translator himself remained in Tehran, continuing to work on Lahiri's book about the ethics of translation.
He described the experience as transformative, saying that translation became an act of resistance. 'During those nights of bombardment, I understood translation as something more than literary craft: it was an act of resistance, of staying put, of holding on,' he said.
