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Next Page Books and the Cedar Rapids Public Library are partnering to host Iowa City-based author Kaveh Akbar for a reading and discussion in support of his bestselling novel, Martyr!.
Next Page Books and the Cedar Rapids Public Library are partnering to host Iowa City-based author Kaveh Akbar for a reading and discussion in support of his bestselling novel, Martyr!.
Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently teaches at the University of Iowa in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. The author of two books of poetry, Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Martyr! is his first novel and published by Knopf. In 2020 he was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. (from author’s website)
About the book: “Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother's plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father's life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past--toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.” (Knopf)
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of Martyr! are now available for purchase at Next Page Books, and on March 5 at the library both before and after the event while supplies last.
For more information, contact the bookstore by emailing npb.newbo@gmail.com or calling 319.247.2665.
The Downtown Library is located at 450 5th Avenue SE, in the heart of Downtown Cedar Rapids. It is a 94,000 square foot building with a variety of civic spaces and a vibrant collection of library materials. Special features of this location are the Whipple Auditorium, a 200 seat auditorium overlooking Greene Square; and the LivingLearning Roof, a green roof with public seating and space to hold special events. Roasters Café is located in the Downtown Library, providing a full service coffee shop for visitors, as well as catering for meetings and special events.
