PBS News Hour

a whole lot more.

It's all part of a new novel by# a young Iranian American poet named Kaveh Akbar.

Jeffrey Brown has that story for# our arts and culture series, Canvas.

JIM LEHRER, Co-Founder and Former Anchor,# "PBS NewsHour": Good evening.

Aftermath## from the Iranian airline JEFFREY BROWN: In 1988, in the midst# of the Iran-Iraq War, the U.S. military## accidentally shot down an Iranian commercial# passenger jet, killing all 290 people aboard.

That real-life tragedy sets in# motion the fictional events in## the new novel "Martyr!"

by Kaveh Akbar.

KAVEH AKBAR, Author, "Martyr!

": I have# always been fascinated by this an d nobody in America knows about it.# And to give texture to -- you hear a number# like 290 people were killed on board.

If that number was 289 or 291, it wouldn't# make a difference intellectually, right,## for me; 290 is a middle-large number.# It's more than five.

T's less than 10,000,## right?

But that one life, every character in# the book, their life is shaped by this event.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) KAVEH AKBAR: Thank you all so much for being here.

JEFFREY BROWN: The 35-year-old Akba was himself born in Iran to an# Iranian father and American mother,## and came to this country at age 2, his# family eventually settling in Wisconsin.

He teaches creative writing at the University# of Iowa and has made a name for himself as a## poet and poetry editor, including at the# "Nation" magazine.

But a longer story## began to swirl around in his head, and he gave# himself a crash course in writing narrative.

KAVEH AKBAR: Just through the# process of doing this for months## and months and then years and year I'm consuming narrative voraciously while# I'm doing this, in the form of two no a week and a movie a day, was the sort# of silly diet that I put myself on.

But... KAVEH AKBAR: Yes, of course.

JEFFREY BR You know, I would read Morrison and Nabokov and# To pulp science fiction and just everything that I# could find and get my hands on.

I just wanted to## understand how an author moves the reader# through beats of narrative without making## it feel super heavy-handed, without making# it feel just like a cudgel of exposition.

JEFFREY BROWN: The result is "Martyr!

"# And that exclamation point is important.

KAVEH AKBAR: I think it would be a pretty# dour-sounding title if it had just been## "Martyr" without an exclamation point.

I# think it would have felt kind of maybe relentlessly sad or relentlessly somber,# and that's not the sort of book that it is.

It's a -- I think that it is oftentimes funny,## hopefully, and oftentimes it is quite# joyful and it is quite ecstatic JE FFREY BROWN: It's a mash-up romp whose## protagonist is an Iranian-American whose head bursts with contemporary pop# culture and medieval Persian classics.

Is that you too?

KAVEH AKBAR: Of JEFFREY BROWN: Hafez.

I love Islam.

But I also love# Erykah Badu.

I love EPMD and Vogue and## Sonic Youth.

And it has shaped the# person that I am.

It has shaped the## identity that I walk through the world,# just as yours has you and everyone's has.

JEFFREY BROWN: Another theme in# the novel also links to Akbar's## personal experience.

In his 20s, he# became addicted to alc a self-destructive period# that nearly did destroy him.

KAVEH AKBAR: I am in recovery.

I'm 10# years and some change sober.

It has... JEFFREY BROWN: So, it's personal?

KAVE And all of my work orbits recovery# in one way or another, or implicitly.

And every experience of# my life, every interaction that I have,## my spouse, my dog, my teaching position,# the fact that we're sat here right now,## is predicated on the fact of my recovery, right?# Had I not recovered, I wouldn't have any of this.

JEFFREY BROWN: But that stays with# you, I mean, that doesn't go away.

KAVEH AKBAR: Of course.

I'm no less an# ju st have better tools with which to cope with# it.

You learn techniques.

upon which you can draw.

And so it's not like# I'm walking around white-knuckling it today.

I have resources.

I have community.# But I'm no less an addict.

You know,## if I take the first drink or if I snort the# first line or whatever that thing is today,## all bets are off, right?

The partition# between me and an early preventable death## is a little bit thinner than it is for a# lot of people.

And that is true for Cyrus.

That is something that the# addict thinks about all the time.

"'I have been thinking about dying,'# Cyrus Sham settled into the black chair across from her."

JEFFREY BROWN: For his character, a quest years into his own recovery, something similar,# but now bringing his first novel into the wor Did you have fun writing it?

KAVEH AKBAR: It wa ever had writing.

There are extended# conversations Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rumi and the# dead are talking and deliberating.

And it's just -- it's such a strange# thing to be putting into the world.## And I hope that it coheres.

I# hope that it makes narrative## sense and doesn't seem too wacky.

But# it was absolutely thrill JEFFREY BROWN: All right, the book is# "Martyr!"

with an exclamation point.

KAVEH AKBAR: With an exclamation point, "Martyr!"

JEFFREY BROWN: Kaveh Akbar, KAVEH AKBAR: Thank you s