THE HOUSE ON SUN STREET | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jan 23, 2024 6:00 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
Jan 23, 2024 6:00 pm
Takoma
The House on Sun Street is based on the author’s family’s experience fleeing Tehran during the upheaval of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Young Moji loves listening to her grandfather recount stories from One Thousand and One Nights, and when she must leave him in Iran, the power of stories bolsters Moji as she starts a new life in the United States. Moji must endure the harrowing first days of the violent revolution, a fraught passage to the US where there is only hostility from her classmates during the Iranian hostage crisis, her father’s detainment by the Islamic Revolutionary Army, and finally, the massive change in the status of women in post-revolution Iran. Through all of this, Moji also navigates the perils of adolescence: friendship, sisterhood, love, sexuality, and playground politics.
The House on Sun Street beautifully renders life in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, and parallels the current protests in Iran for women fighting for their freedom, rights, and education.
Mojgan Ghazirad is joining us on the Busboys stage with Mary Kay Zuravleff to discuss writing autobiographical historical fiction. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Ghazirad will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of THE HOUSE ON SUN STREET will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books.
Mojgan Ghazirad is a medical doctor and currently works as an assistant professor of pediatrics at The George Washington University. She holds an MFA in creative writing and has published three collections of short stories in Farsi. Her essays have appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Idaho Review, Longreads, The Common, Bombay Review, and Assignment. She lives with her family in Great Falls, Virginia.
Mary Kay Zuravleff is the award-winning author of American Ending, inspired by her Russian Orthodox Old Believer grandparents who lived in Marianna and Erie, Pennsylvania. Her novel Man Alive! was a Washington Post Notable Book, and she has received the American Academy’s Rosenthal Award and numerous DC Arts and Humanities fellowships. She lives in Washington, DC.
