2014 Miami Book Fair | Salar Abdoh

Salar Abdoh, was born in Iran, and splits his time between Tehran and New York City, where he is co-director of the Creative Writing MFA Program at the City College of New York. He is the author of The Poet Game and Opium. His essays and short stories have appeared in various publications, including the New York Times, BOMB, Callaloo, Guernica, and on the BBC. He is the recipient of the NYFA Prize and the National Endowment for the Arts award. In his latest novel, Tehran at Twilight (Akashic; $15.95), a teacher living in Harlem reluctantly returns to Tehran to find a city on the edge of revolution.

Against a backdrop of corrupt mullahs, shady fixers, political repression, and the ever-present threat of violence, Abdoh offers a telling glimpse into contemporary Tehran, and spins a compelling morality tale of identity and exile, the bonds of friendship, and the limits of loyalty.  The story collection Tehran Noir (Akashic Books; $15.95), edited by Salar Abdoh, continues Akashic Books’ groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies.  In his Introduction to Tehran Noir, Abdoh writes “Tehran is a juxtaposition of ugliness and beauty that breaks the heart . . . A place where not one but two inept dynasties came to miserable ends, and where, arguably, the third most important revolution in history . . . was started . . . In other words, there is something of both absolutely spectacular and positively disgraceful about Tehran.”

2014 Miami Book Fair