MENTORSHIP RECIPIENT 

Mentorship Recipient
Albaloo

Recipient Reflection: 
S. Ferdowsi

On "Albaloo" by S. Ferdowsi

by ​​Nardine Taleb

I was immediately drawn to Ferdowsi's piece and her delightfully unexpected story about cherry seeds. We corresponded over several weeks after I reached out. She was so open to revising but really I wanted to follow her lead. As a writer, she's got a great command of voice, narration, and a vision that I didn't want to change. The story of family and identity is timeless and Ferdowsi addresses it so beautifully in her story. We had such an interesting discussion about what things we should translate and what words we should keep as is. I think it speaks to how, coming from two or more backgrounds, there's always discussion about what should be translated or not, in order for readers to get as much from the authenticity of a piece as they can. I'm grateful Ferdowsi's story offers us that authenticity. She was such a delight to work with, and I can't wait for this story to be shared with the world. 

Nardine Taleb

​Nardine Taleb is an Egyptian-American writer and speech therapist. She has performed her prose and poetry at Philadelphia’s Writers’ Conference, has received multiple writerships, has work forthcoming in Emerge Literary Journal, and is a current Brooklyn Poets fellow. Her passion is mentoring others in writing and helping them share their work with the world. She is a Cleveland native and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon: the people and the coffee are too great.