Celebrated poet Kaveh Akbar has just released his first novel. Titled Martyr!, it follows Iranian-American Cyrus Shams through his journey of sobriety and the quest for a meaningful existence.

I recently spoke with Akbar about inserting aspects of himself into the novel – from character traits to his love of literature – what it means to write a book about martyrs as an Iranian-American, and much more.

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Martyr! was published by Knopf.

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