"The Fragrance of Naan," by Shahrokh Nikfar

Last weekend I celebrated the publication of my anthology Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran, published by Nortia Press. It is a collection of essays, poetry, interviews and blog posts written by ordinary people who have found friendships, mentors and muses in Iran. The collection aims to challenge many of the negative stereotypes about Iran and its people currently perpetuated in the Western media.

I invite you to read an excerpt of the first story in this collection, "The Frangrance of Naan," by Shahrokh Nikfar on loveandpomegranates.com website. Shahrokh is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in Tehran and who returned to his homeland in 2000 for the first time in twenty-one years. I've included an image of him in this post reading from his piece at a recent gathering of intrepid readers and travelers from Spokane, Washington.

Shahrokh hosts a weekly radio program The Persian Hour, KYRS Radio, Spokane, WA. I will soon upload a recent discussion between Shahrokh and myself about the story of how this anthology came to be, its 67 or so contributors, and their work on loveandpomegrantes.com and my personal website meghannuttallsayres.com.  

Feel free to join our conversation celebrating Iranian culture at www.loveandpomegranates.com