(Tucson, AZ) On March 3 from 3 to 5 pm at Woods Memorial Library, the Library's Welcome to America Team will host Daniel Nayeri, author of the award-winning Everything Sad is Untrue: A True Story. The book, which was named an NPR Best Book of the Year and received the Middle East Book Award, is based upon the author's childhood immigrating from Iran to Oklahoma. He is also the author of Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, and Blow: Four Novellas and The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams.
Nayeri will speak about his book, share his personal journey, and discuss what it means to be a former refugee and immigrant.
About the Author
Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent a couple of years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan, making him one of the youngest publishers in the industry. He has served on the CBC diversity committee and the CBC panel committee.
About the Book
According to the publisher, "At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. To them he is a dark-skinned, hairy-armed boy with a big butt whose lunch smells funny; who makes things up and talks about poop too much. But Khosrou's stories, stretching back years, and decades, and centuries, are beautiful, and terrifying, from the moment his family fled Iran in the middle of the night with the secret police moments behind them, back to the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and further back to the fields near the river Aras, where rain-soaked flowers bled red like the yolk of sunset burst over everything, and further back still to the Jasmine-scented city of Isfahan.
Praise for Everything Sad is Untrue
"A modern masterpiece." - The New York Times Book Review
"Supple, sparkling and original." - The Wall Street Journal
"Mesmerizing." - TODAY.com
"This book could change the world." - BookPage
"A modern epic." - Kirkus Reviews
"A rare treasure of a book." - Publishers Weekly
Welcome to America team member Amy M., says, "Daniel's story will resonate with a lot of community members who have had similar experiences. I know that my dad, as a fellow immigrant who tried to fit in as a teenager, would have enjoyed meeting Mr. Nayeri. The Library's Welcome to America team, who services, welcomes and celebrates our immigrant and refugee community members, is thrilled to offer their first author talk with Mr. Nayeri at Woods Library."
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