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07:00 PM » READING AND BOOKSIGNING FROM MEMOIR, PERSIAN GIRLS, BY NAHID RACHLIN

Thursday October 18, 7:00 PM

Reading, Book signing, PERSIAN GIRLS (memoir)

Sponsored by Hope College Visiting Author Series

Knickerbocker Theater 86 East 8th Street Holland, MI

event is free

Info: 616.395.7403

DESCRIPTION OF PERSIAN GIRLS:

In a story of ambition, oppression, hope, heartache, and sisterhood, Persian Girls traces Rachlin's coming of age in Iran under the late Shah-and her domineering father-her tangled family life, and her relationship with her older sister, and unexpected soul mate, Pari. Both girls refused to accept traditional roles prescribed for them under Muslim cultural laws. They devoured forbidden books. They had secret romances. But then things quickly changed. Pari was forced by her parents to marry a wealthy suitor, a cruel man who kept her a prisoner in her own home. After narrowly avoiding an unhappy match herself with a man her parents chose for her, Nahid came to America, where she found literary success. Back in Iran, however, Pari's dreams fell to pieces.

BIO:

Nahid Rachlin is the award-winning author of four critically acclaimed novels, a story collection, and, most recently, a memoir entitled Persion Girls, which was selected by Christopher Merrill as one of the four best books of 2006. Persian Girls tells the story of Rachlin’s growing up in Iran, beginning at age nine, when she was taken away from the beloved aunt who had raised her. Publishers Weekly calls it a “lyrical and disturbing memoir” that “gives American readers rare insight in Iranians’ ambivalence toward the United States, the desire for American freedom clashing with resentment of American hegemony.” Rachlin currently teaches at The New School University in New York City.

From: Nahid Rachlin <nahidr@rcn.com>