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The Purim Series: Book Discussion with Roya Hakakian

This discussion with Roya Hakakian opens our lecture series on Persian Jewry.

In "Journey from the Land of No" Roya Hakakian recalls her childhood and adolescence in prerevolutionary Iran with candor and verve. The result is a beautifully written coming-of-age story about one deeply intelligent and perceptive girl’s attempt to find an authentic voice of her own at a time of cultural closing and repression. Remarkably, she manages to re-create a time and place dominated by religious fanaticism, violence, and fear with an open heart and often with great humor.

Roya Hakakian is the author of "Assassins of the Turquoise Palace" and "Journey from the Land of No," and has published two collections of poetry in Persian. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. She has collaborated on programming for leading journalism units in network television, including 60 Minutes. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and served on the editorial board of World Affairs. Since 2015, she has taught at THREAD, a writing workshop at Yale, and is a fellow at the Davenport College at Yale. She lives in Connecticut.

For more about the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73604/journey-from-the-land-of-no-by-roya-hakakian/

For more about our upcoming course, "The Persian Experience": https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/

Feb 17, 2021 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)