DP Lang & Lit: Persepolis

How Iran--and the world around it--have changed in the four decades since a revolutionary theocracy took power Iran's 1979 revolution is one of the most important events of the late twentieth century.

A collection of essays from various world cultures. Includes one piece about Iran.

Basic information about Iran: Geography, culture, and history.

On October 5, 1986, Nicaraguan government forces shot down an American plane loaded with supplies for the country's rebel forces, the Contras. One month later, Middle Eastern journalists broke a story about a secret trip made by members of President Ronald Reagan's administration to Iran. They had gone there to discuss the sale of missiles in exchange for the release of American hostages held in Lebanon. The world soon learned how these two seemingly unrelated events were linked, and the resulting scandal came to be known as the Iran-Contra affair.

Embrodieres gathers togeterh Marjane's tough-talking grandmother, stoic mother, glamorous and eccentric aunt and their friends and neighbour for an afternoon of tea-drinking and talk. Naturally the subject turns to love, sex, and the vagaries of men...

Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird is an unforgettable, award-winning novel of conflict, persecution and the hardships faced by refugees. Tara is an ordinary teenager. Although her country, Kurdistan, is caught up in a war, the fighting seems far away. It hasn't really touched her. Until now. The secret police are closing in. Tara and her family must flee to the mountains with only the few things they can carry. It is a hard and dangerous journey - but their struggles have only just begun. Will anywhere feel like home again?

In this companion to the award-winning Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Darius suddenly has it all- a boyfriend, an internship, a spot on the soccer team. It's everything he's ever wanted--but what if he deserves better?

Darius Kellner is having a bit of a year. Since his trip to Iran, a lot has changed. He's getting along with his dad, and his best friend Sohrab is only a Skype call away. Between his first boyfriend, Landon, varsity soccer practices, and an internship at his favorite tea shop, things are falling into place. Then, of course, everything changes. Darius's grandmothers are in town for a long visit, and Darius can't tell whether they even like him. The internship is not going according to plan, Sohrab isn't answering Darius's calls, and Dad is far away on business. And Darius is sure he really likes Landon . . . but he's also been hanging out with Chip Cusumano, former bully and current soccer teammate--and well, maybe he's not so sure about anything after all.

Darius was just starting to feel okay, like he finally knew what it meant to be Darius Kellner. But maybe okay isn't good enough. Maybe Darius deserves better.

Tehran, 1983. A city paralyzed by fear, Its people silenced. And the beating heat of the region is Evin prison. Yet even within its austere walls, three women dare to dream of a life beyond tyranny.

Azar gives birth to her daughter in captivity. One day, the guards simply take her child from her. Parisa yearns for her tiny son, growing up a few miles away but completely out of reach. And Firoozeh, broken by cruelty, has turned her back on everything she was fight for.

But even in the most desolate places, hope can take root.

1950 Tehran. Seven year old Ellie lives in comfort, wanting for nothing, until the death of her father brings.a drastic change in fortune. At school, she meets Homa. Together the girls play games, wander through the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming "lion women" and the first generation of women fully working in Iran.

Opportunity allows Ellie and her mother to return to their bourgeois life, and Ellie's memories of Homa fade. But years later, her sudden reappearance in Ellie's privilege alters the course of both of their lives.

As the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earthy-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

Based on historical events, this unforgettable and inspiring tale for middle-grade readers is about a young boy torn from the only life he's ever known and held captive as a prisoner of war.

In 1982, twelve-year-old Reza has no interest in joining Iran's war effort against Iraq. But in the wake of a tragedy and at his mother's urging, he decides to enlist, assured by the authorities that he will achieve paradise should he die in service to his country. War does not bring the glory the boys of Iran have been promised, and Reza soon finds himself held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Iraq, where the guards not only threaten violence--they act upon it.

Will Reza make it out alive? And if he does, will he even have a home to return to? Friendship, heartbreak, and Reza's very survival are at stake as he finds solace through music and forges his own path--wherever that might take him.

A sprawling, evocative, and groundbreaking autobiographical novel told in the unforgettable and hilarious voice of a young Iranian refugee. It is a powerfully layered novel that poses the questions: Who owns the truth? Who speaks it? Who believes it? "A patchwork story is the shame of the refugee," Nayeri writes early in the novel. In an Oklahoman middle school, Khosrou (whom everyone calls Daniel) stands in front of a skeptical audience of classmates, telling the tales of his family's history, stretching back years, decades, and centuries.

At the core is Daniel's story of how they became refugees--starting with his mother's vocal embrace of Christianity in a country that made such a thing a capital offense, and continuing through their midnight flight from the secret police, bribing their way onto a plane-to-anywhere. Anywhere becomes the sad, cement refugee camps of Italy, and then finally asylum in the U.S.

Implementing a distinct literary style and challenging western narrative structures, Nayeri deftly weaves through stories of the long and beautiful history of his family in Iran, adding a richness of ancient tales and Persian folklore. Like Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights, Daniel spins a tale to save his own life: to stake his claim to the truth.

A tale of heartbreak and resilience and urges readers to speak their truth and be heard.