Ask the Author | ‘Martyr!’ author Kaveh Akbar needs writing just as much as it needs him

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop professor and recent New York Times bestselling author of “Martyr!” spoke with the DI about his recovery from addiction and his subsequent necessity of writing. Avi Lapchick , Arts Editor Ethan McLaughlin Kaveh Akbar speaks during a panel on Leslie Jamison’s newest novel, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, at Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. At the top of TIME Magazine’s list of the 25 most anticipated books of 2024 sits Kaveh Akbar’s first fiction novel, “Martyr!” which hit shelves in January. Since then, the author’s work has received unending praise from literary critics at The New York Times , PBS, Oprah Daily, NPR, and many others. Akbar is the newest name to be reckoned with in the literary genre. Published by Knopf, “Martyr!” tells the story of the disgruntled poet Cyrus, an addict-in-recovery who is burdened by loss, mourning, iniquity, and suicidal ideation. His curiosity for martyrdom — “people whose deaths mattered” — leads him to New York City, where he meets a dying artist who teaches him what death truly means. Born in Tehran, Iran, Akbar is the director of the English and creative writing major at the University of Iowa and teaches at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Akbar is also the poetry editor of The Nation . This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The Daily Iowan: Tell me about the moment you sat down and began writing “Martyr!” Kaveh Akbar: Unfortunately, there wasn’t a concrete moment for me as someone who is constantly writing and who publishes very little. So, there are scraps of language that appear in “Martyr!” that are 10-15 years old, and early bird drafts of conversations that appear in “Martyr!” are 5-6 years old — it was a gradual process of sticking with some of those early drafts, recognizing I was writing recurring characters and sustained dialogue across themes, to then build towards a more cohesive vision. I have a friend, Tommy Orange, with whom I traded weekly pages every Friday. When both of our pages started to get […]

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