Mojgan Ghazirad
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad
Author of The House on Sun Street
A young girl grows up in a family uprooted by the terror of an Islamic Revolution, where her culture, her gender, and her education are in peril. For the curious and imaginative Moji, there is no better place to grow up than the lush garden of her grandparents in Tehran. However, as she sits with her sister underneath the grapevines, listening to their grandfather recount the enchanting stories of One Thousand and One Nights, revolution is brewing in her homeland. Soon, the last monarch of Iran will leave the country, and her home and her family will never be the same. From Moji’s house on Sun Street, readers experience the 1979 Iranian revolution through the eyes of a young girl and her family members during a time of concussive political and social change. 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. Along with these seismic shifts, for Moji, there are also the universal perils of love, sexuality, and adolescence. However, since Moji’s school is centered on political indoctrination, even a young girl’s innocent crush can mean catastrophe. Is Moji able to pull through? Will her family come to her rescue? And just like Scheherazade, will the power of stories help her prevail?
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad
Author I draw inspiration from:
I love Rumi, the grand Persian Poet and his masterpiece Masnavi. Every day I read a few of his poems at dawn in order to start my writing day with his lyrical voice in my ears. I am a big fan of Ursula Le Guinn. Her short stories have been a great source of joy and education for me.
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In my room, in the blue reading nook I have created for myself. I have a nice collection of books around me, a fine silk Persian carpet hanging in a frame on the wall, and off-white voile curtains that soften the light coming from outside. The space accentuates the sense of pleasure when I read.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I always imagined being with Shaharazad in her royal room, sitting on the floor beside her bed and listening to her stories. My dream as a child was to see her one day and ask her to tell one of the stories she had told to King Shahriar in One Thousand and One Nights. I don't think I’d sleep that night as she’d spin the yarn and tell her mesmerizing stories.
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I have been keeping journals since I was a teenager. But I knew I wanted to be a writer at 21, when my playwriting won the national award for playwriting in Iran.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I love hardcovers. I feel I can trust a book when I hold a hardcover in my hands. But I also love audiobooks. Having a hectic life as a NICU doctor leaves me with little time for reading. I make the best of it by listening to audiobooks on my way to work or back home.
The last book I read:
I read Gilead and loved it. It was the first book I read from Marilynne Robinson and I picked it up because I know Reading Genesis is coming out soon. I wanted to have an idea about her prose before starting the new one. I am always interested in books that win Pulitzer Prize and Gilead was no exception. I kept my eyes on the paragraphs, wondering how a boring story of an old priest would keep me invested in the book. But she didn’t fail and I loved the way the old man talks about his young wife. We don’t know her name or much about her past, but the way he describes her with the utmost love and respect is the most powerful attraction of the novel for me.
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I still sometimes write with pen and paper for the feel of it. It has a soothing effect on me and reminds me of the good times in my teenage years when I used calligraphy pen and black ink to rewrite my daily notes. We write Farsi from right to left and the alphabets attach to each other in words. The shape of each word becomes a piece of art when you try to write it down.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I like Sindbad and his travel adventures. I love traveling around the world and writing about it, so he could be a perfect companion for a writer who enjoys traveling to lesser-known places and especially stepping into worlds that are more magical than real.
Author Interview - Mojgan Ghazirad | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Well, I already have a night job as a neonatologist—the doctor for newborn babies—at the George Washington University Hospital. I enjoy my profession so much since I get to save human beings at the beginning of their lives. Nothing can be more rewarding than saving life from day zero on...
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I don't have any.
Place I’d most like to travel:
I would like to travel to many places if my work duties allow me. But I am especially interested in going to the Tibetan Plateau and visiting one of the Buddhist ancient monasteries. Legends say that Yumbulagang is the first building in Tibet and it became a monastery at the reign of the fifth Dalia Lama. If it was possible, I would love to follow a day in the life of a young monk to see their daily rituals in those monasteries.
My signature drink:
Coffee, coffee, coffee. I love Yemen coffee, the one that comes from Mokha and is brewed on hot sand. People drank this coffee in older times in Iran since it was readily imported from Yemen. The taste lingers for hours.
Favorite artist:
My all-time favorite artist is Michelangelo. I came to know Western art through his life and his paintings. I was lucky enough to see the ceiling of Sistine Chapel a few years ago on a visit I had to the Vatican. There is so much to learn about life in that heavenly painting. God, Adam, and all other prophets forever ascending to the sky…
Number one on my bucket list:
I would love to visit Library of Trinity College in Dublin. I would like to see The Book of Kells that is on display in that library.
Find more from the author:
https://twitter.com/MojganGhazirad
https://www.facebook.com/mojgan.ghazirad/
https://www.instagram.com/mojgan.ghazirad/
About Mojgan Ghazirad:
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.
