Translator Michelle Quay presents 'Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime'
About this Event
Third Place Books welcomes translator Michelle Quay to present her translation of Reza Ghassemi's . Winner of the inaugural Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian Literature, Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime is Reza Ghassemi's darkly comic and subtly provocative novel of life among the exiled and expatriated.
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About Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime . . .
Iranian exile Yadollah is barely scraping by in 1990s Paris. He lives in a run-down attic apartment with his friend Seyyed, and his girlfriend Ra'na. It's an all too common situation-their apartment building houses a cast of eccentric neighbors, most of them fellow down-on-their-luck exiles from all over the world. When a mysterious new neighbor arrives on the scene, a man who ominously goes by the name of Prophet, Yadollah and his friends' world is turned upside down.
Yadollah suddenly finds himself confronted by the Islamic angels of death, and realizes that he must untangle the mystery of his own M**der, which occurred at some unknown point after Prophet's arrival. Suspenseful, yet darkly humorous, Woodwind Harmony In The Nighttime explores the trauma of displacement, and challenges readers to piece together the story of a life shattered by exile.
Reza Ghassemi is an Iranian musician, playwright and novelist. His plays, which won prestigious awards in Iran, were banned after the Islamic Revolution. He has since lived in exile in France, where he has pursued his career as a musician and writer with more freedom. In 2002, he was awarded the Golshiri Literary Award for Best First Novel — Iran's most important literary prize — for Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime. Of his other two novels, The Spell Chanted by Lambs (Candle & Fog, 2015) has also been translated into English.
Michelle Quay is a scholar and translator of Persian literature. She teaches Persian language and literature, Iranian cinema and culture at Brown University, and holds a PhD in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Cambridge. As the inaugural winner of the Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian literature, her translation of Reza Ghassemi's surrealist novel, Woodwind Harmony in the Nighttime, was published with Deep Vellum in March 2026. She also co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Persian Literary Translation (2022), and her short form literary translation work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, Asymptote, Two Lines Press and elsewhere.
About Third Place Books
Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.
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