Porochista Khakpour

Porochista Khakpour talks about her new novel, The Last Illusion, a fabulist novel about a feral boy coming of age in New York that's based on a legend from the medieval Persian epic The Shahnameh, the Book of Kings. Khakpour tells the story of Zal, whose demented mother is horrified by the pallor of his skin and hair and becomes convinced she has given birth to a “White Demon.” She hides him in a birdcage and where he lives for the next decade. Freed from his cage and adopted by a behavioral analyst, Zal awakens in New York to the possibility of a future. 

She was three years old in 1980, when her family fled post-revolutionary Iran. Porochista Khakpour is 30 now, and her memories are woven into her lyrical, witty debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects just out in paperback. Kurt talks with her about the book's ...

Event: Porochista Khakpour will be speaking with Dalia Sofer, Marsha Mehran, and Nahid Rachlin
Monday, November 19 at 7 pm

Novelist Porochista Khakpour was three years old in 1980, when her family fled post-revolutionary Iran. She is 29 now, and her memories are woven into her lyrical, witty debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects. Kurt talks with her about the book's loosely autobiographical portrait ...