Mahbod Seraji’s critically acclaimed debut novel, Rooftops of Tehran, paints a vivid portrait of growing up, discovering love, and awakening to the realities of life in a nation on the verge of revolution in the 1970’s. How did an Iranian immigrant, writing in a second language, come to craft a critically acclaimed work of such power and beauty? One answer begins with CWC charter member, Jack London.
“I discovered the gift of reading when I was ten years old, sitting on my own rooftop in Tehran and losing myself in a Farsi translation of Jack London’s White Fang. I was blown away by the power of words to take me to a place I hardly knew and make me feel as if I’d lived there all my life. It was an experience that never left me. Much later, I began to write stories of my own and quickly realized that writing was more satisfying than anything else I’d ever done. I’d start early in the evening and pause at dawn, exhausted, elated and barely aware that the night had passed.”
Please join us May 15, when Mahbod Seraji will present his wonderful book, and describe its journey to publication.
Mahbod Seraji was born in Iran in 1956 and came to the US in May of 1976. He received his BS in Civil Engineering, MA in Broadcasting and Film, and Ph.D. in Instructional Design and Technology from the University of Iowa. Rooftops of Tehran was an Indie Next Notable in June, picked in the Outstanding Debut Category for Fall 2009-Winter 2010 by the American Booksellers Association, and was selected for the University of Villanova’s One Book Program, and Broward College’s wRites of Spring 2010. Mahbod lives in the San Francisco Bay area where he’s finishing his second book. Please visit his web page at: www.rooftopsoftehran.com