• Black Parot, Green Crow: A Collection of Short Fiction
  
  Until now, only a sparse selection of Golshiri’s fiction has been available in English translation—three short stories, a novella written under a pseudonym, and his novel Prince Ehtejab, which was made into a film. Now, Black Parrot, Green Crow brings together the largest collection of Golshiri’s writings in any language—eighteen short stories and three poems. They span the arc of Golshiri’s career as a writer, from his days as a young student in Isfahan under the Pahlavi regime, to the 1980s and 1990s, and the disappointment of the Iranian people with the Islamic Republic. Golshiri’s stories, crafted with a withering irony, expose the fanatical and draconian political apparatus of tyrannical regimes, while his wry humor and delicate sensitivity to the human condition tempers the blistering satire, making the narratives short but nonetheless harrowing and touching tragedies. The tales are filled with the uncertainty of life in a culture undergoing drastic change, and hauntingly etch the plight of the individual in a climate of political oppression.[more>>]


• King of the Benighted
  
  King of the Benighted was mailed out of Iran page by page. It is both a firsthand account of the hard realities of life under the Islamic Republic and a literary masterpeice by one of Iran's best contemporary writers, Houshang Golshiri, who wrote under the pen name Manuchehr Golshiri to protect his identity. Golshiri has creatively combined modern techniques of fiction with the rich tradition of Persian poetry to tell a timeless tale. The novella invites the reader to join the flow of the artist's imagination and to share moments in the life of a contemporary Iranian poet, including his imprisonment and incredible encounter with a younf prisoner called Sarmad. Should you want to know why Iran has become a nation of mourners, you might follow the poet where he has gone.[more>>]