Négar Djavadi in Conversation with Laura van den Berg: DISORIENTAL

On April 17th, Négar Djavadi will be in conversation with author Laura van den Berg at the Brookline Booksmith as part of their Transnational Literature Series. This series focuses on books concerned with migration, displacement, and exile, with particular emphasis on works in translation.

DISORIENTAL, Djavadi’s début novel, is the winner of several awards, including: the Prix du Style, Prix de la Porte Dorée, Prix du Roman News, Prix Première (RTBF), Emmanuel Roblès First Novel Prize, and Lire’s Best Debut Novel of 2016.

About DISORIENTAL:
Kimiâ Sadr fled Iran at the age of ten in the company of her mother and sisters to join her father in France. Now twenty-five and facing the future she has built for herself as well as the prospect of a new generation, Kimiâ is inundated by her own memories and the stories of her ancestors, which come to her in unstoppable, uncontainable waves. In the waiting room of a Parisian fertility clinic, generations of flamboyant Sadrs return to her, including her formidable great-grandfather Montazemolmolk, with his harem of fifty-two wives, and her parents, Darius and Sara, stalwart opponents of each regime that befalls them.

“What is obvious from the beginning of this riveting novel is that Djavadi is an immensely gifted storyteller.”
—Booklist (Starred Review)

“In a tour de force of storytelling, screenwriter and debut novelist Djavadi deftly weaves together the history of 20th-century Iran […] with the spellbinding chronicle of her own ancestors.”
—Library Journal