The oldest, most prestigious merit scholarship program in the United States
E-mail to the Foundation
June 2010
Some claim that scholars rarely make good novelists. I couldn’t disagree more.
Martyrdom Street, by Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet '89 Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of Pennsylvania
As historians, we are trained to write compelling narratives about the past. So, in my case, making the transition from non-fiction to fiction seemed rather natural.
It can be challenging to convey cultural norms to an unfamiliar audience. On the one hand, it is important to provide some context; on the other hand, one doesn’t want to appear didactic.
Writing about Iran in the United States proves both rewarding and frustrating. There is much more interest in Iran now than there ever was when I was a student at UNC, but much of what is known about Iran is suffused with negative stereotypes.
I hope my novel can help to dispel facile notions of Iranians and Iranian-Americans at a time when tensions have strained the relationship between the United States and Iran.
