The Gaze of the Gazelle [2010]: Memoir
I consulted as a publisher and editor at large for Ithaca Press for a list on Middle East studies for three years. These are a few of the books I personally acquired and published while there. You can see a lot more on the Ithaca Press website.
The Yaldaa Literary Prize for Fiction in Persian [2002–2005]
Yaldaa was one of the first independent literary prizes in Iran after the 1979 revolution. We founded the prize in Caravan Books Publishing House, in collaboration with Andisheh-Sazan publishers. It was quite a successful prize, but in 2006, following threats from pressure groups, we decided not to continue it to maintain the safety of the staff. The statue is of Mithra, the Hindo-Iranian god of life (the equivalent of the Roman Mithras), being born from a rock, holding the son in his hand. Yaldaa is the night of the winter equinox, and the birthday of the mythical Mithra, who overcomes darkness. Yaldaa was traditionally associated with story-telling.
Founding Book Fiesta (Jashn-e-Ketab) cultural magazine [2001-2008]
I was the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of BookFiesta, a cultural magazine dedicated to literature, short stories, music, cinema and culture. The magazine had 25000 subscribers, but in 2008 it was banned and shut down by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, following the publication of a short story by Primo Levi, about the Holocaust.
Founding Publishing Industry magazine (Persian) [2006]
I was the founding editor in 2006 and then the Managing Editor for a couple of years. We launched Publishing Industry to keep publishers and booksellers informed about the developments in the publishing landscape, and to publish useful learning resources for publishers, to help modernising the Iranian publishing industry.
Kaykhusro [2009]: Novel
Kaykhusro was my third novel, published in Iran shortly before I left Iran. It is the story of a woman named Adora. Her husband died in Iran-Iraq war years ago, her son has left her and now, she has only two pleasures left: Her job as an editor and her PhD thesis about the myth of Kaykhusro. Just when she thinks that she knows everything about kaykhusro, she receives a strange booklet that challenges all her knowledge about this mysterious legendary Iranian king who is known as the ‘living king’. But she can’t use this new-found knowledge in her thesis, as the author of the booklet has no citations to any references in the booklet. Adora embarks on a quest to find the anonymous author, to ask him directly about his sources. A quest that ends in a long and astonishing journey in time and space, that challenges all of Adora’s preconceptions.
The Princess of the Land of Eternity [2003]: Novel
My second novel is about Pourya, a student who has lost his blind mother Anahita recently and believes that his real family history is not the same as what he has been told by his parents. So he begins a quest to find out the truth about his parents and his own past; a battle with the illusionary and manipulated reality that the society and his family have been imposing on him for many years. He meets strange people he doesn’t know and never has met before, and they unfold the untold story of his parents, his nation, and humankind.
The sorrow of the moon [1994]
This was my first novel, a metaphorical long story of a young doctor who after finding his world empty, embarks on a self-discovery journey to find something that can makes his life worth living.
Foundation of Caravan Books Publishing House [1997-2009]
I launched Caravan Books Publishing House in Tehran in 1997, and by 2009, it have become a prominent publisher of fiction, and nonfiction in Iran. After the events of 2009 in Tehran, the protests against the rigged presidential elections and the death of Neda Agha Soltan, Caravan Books was shut down by the Iranian Government and all my books were banned.