Much as during the Persian Empire, political instability and changes in power led to a diverse and independent culture of writing. Continuity in all genres, writing systems, and languages remains the most important characteristic of Western Asian literature at least to the beginning of the Christian era.
This selection encompasses fiction (short stories) from a multitude of regions within West Asia, including Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Georgia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, and others.