Yahya Gharagozlou presents "1001: A Dream of Nine Nights"

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About ticketing:

• Admission to the event is $5.
• To purchase the book with your admission, choose Admission + Book and we will waive your admission fee.
• If you decide to purchase the book at the event, we will discount your book purchase by $5.

Please note that you must purchase your copy of the book from Wellesley Books in order to have the author sign it at the event.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

In this intimate and tumultuous historical fiction, Iran plays a starring role under a stage name, Persiran. We engage with its history through three generations of a vividly drawn aristocratic family called the Poonakis, beginning with twin princes devoted to each other and ending in modern times - after the Khomeini revolution - with another set of twin brothers, grandchildren to the princes, who are mortal enemies.

Like the monarchy and the fledgling constitution, the family is doomed, as the clerical vision of building the kingdom of God on Earth prevails. The story has several narrators whose fates will intersect by the end. The book's title refers to nine critical nights of storytelling transposed into binary code: playing on the classic 1001 Nights of Scheherazade.

The episodes of the novel take place in palaces, mosques, a village, a harem, a tearoom, a whorehouse, a Pr*son. The characters travel through deserts and mountains to European cities and battlegrounds during World War II in Berlin and the Iran-Iraq war in Khouzestan. In episodes of comedy and farce, as well as romance and tragedy, we get to know these compelling characters and unforgettable women. Throughout runs a critical theme: the storyteller's obligation to tell his stories - the raw ingredients of history.

The novel weaves an intricate pattern, like the high-knot density of a Tabriz carpet, as narrators introduce other narrators to recount Iran's troubled history of the twentieth century.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Iran, the author earned an MFA from the University of New Hampshire. He has published short stories in The Kenyon and Massachusetts Review. The novel 1001: A Dream of Nine Nights was a critical success, earning reviews such as this:

It is rare—truly rare—to find the perfect blend of brilliant writing and great story telling. These books are the ones that settle into our souls, the characters become a part of our extended family, their travails and adventures influence us in unspoken ways, and they make us just a little better as people. Marquez, Allende, Khaled Hossein, Harper Lee... to this list I add Yahya Gharagozlou.

He currently resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

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