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Gina B. Nahai

University of Southern CaliforniaMaster of Professional Writing Program

3501 Trousdale ParkwayMark Taper Hall of Humanities,THH 355

Los Angeles, California 90089-0355Phone: (213) 740-3252

gina.nahai@gmail.comwww.ginabnahai.com

Education

University of Southern California, Master of Professional Writing, 1988. Worked with Hubert Selby Junior, John Rechy.

University of California, Los Angeles, MA, Political Science: International Relations, 1982. Worked with Arthur Stein, Steven Spiegel.

University of California, Los Angeles, BA, Political Science, 1981.

Professional Appointments--Teaching

University of Southern California, Full Time Lecturer, Master of Professional Writing Program, (2007-present)

University of Southern California, Half Time Lecturer, Master of Professional Writing Program, (1999-2007)

University of Southern California, Lecturer, Freshman Writing Program, (1985-1988)

Book Publications

The Luminous Heart of Jonah S., Novel, Akashic, October 2014

Caspian Rain, Novel, MacAdam/Cage, 2007

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Sunday’s Silence, Novel, Harcourt, 2001

Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith, Novel, Harcourt, 1999

Cry of the Peacock, Novel, Crown, 1992

Essays/Chapters in Anthologies

Upcoming in 2015-“Mizrahi Life in America”, The Journal of the Casden Institute, 2015

“The Gravedigger’s Kaddish,” Tehran Noir, Akashic Books, 2014

“Tehran Noir,” short story, Fall 2014

“In Literature,” The Persian Square, 2013

“The Third Temple,” The Journal of the Casden Institute at USC, 2009-2010 "The Pearl Cannon", Triquarterly, 2008-2009 Chapter in If Salt Had Memory, 2008-2009

Essay in Shma' Magazine, 2008-2009

Essay in 614: HBI, 2007-2008 Essay, "Mercy" in Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt, 2006-2007 Short story, “Murder in Holmby Hills” in Tremors, New Fiction by Iranian American

Writers, 2013

Excerpts from Cry of the Peacock, Posen Library of Jewish Literature, 2013

Magazine/Newspaper/ Online Publications

Monthly Column, “Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles,” 2010-present

Jewish LA, “The Jewish Forward,” October, 2014

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Book Reviews:

“A Promising Premise that Goes Nowhere,” Review of The Master Butchers Singing Club By Louise Erdich, Chicago Tribune, February 9, 2003

“An Authentic Voice from the Margins,” Review of Roofwalker By Susan Power, Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2002

“Behind the Veil,” Review of ESTHER’S CHILDREN: A Portrait of Iranian Jews Edited By Houman Sarshar, Los Angeles Times, June 9, 2002

“Destiny’s Child,” Review of I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters By Rabih Alameddine, Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2001

“A Father’s Debilitating Illness Cripples His Daughter,” Review of An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender, San Francisco Chronicle, June 16, 2000

“The Last Great Revolution,” Review of The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran By Robin Wright, San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 2000

Articles:

“No Matter What, We’ve Already Won,” Huffington Post, June 18, 2009

“Iran’s Never-Ending Movie,” TheWrap.com, May 11, 2009

“What You Don’t Know About Your College Education,” Huffington Post, January 6, 2009

“It Gets Worse,” Huffington Post, January 6, 2009

“And You Thought Walmart Employees Had It Bad,” Huffington Post, December 15, 2008

“The Great Shame of America’s Colleges,” Huffington Post, December 14, 2008

“Even Paranoid People Have Real Enemies,” Huffington Post, February 27, 2008

“The Lesser of All Tyrants,” Huffington Post, June 19, 2007

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“The Unintended Benefits of the Mess in Iraq,” Huffington Post, June 15, 2007

“Bush’s Next Job,” The Huffington Post, June 6, 2006

“Persian Gardens,” Los Angeles Times, April 20, 2006

“On to the Vatican,” Huffington Post, June 1, 2005

“Where I Live,” Los Angeles Times, January 13, 2005

“An L.A. Author Feels San Francisco’s Chill,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2002

Theater:

Becoming American (one act), staged reading by Jewish Women’s Theater, 4 performances, March 2012; staged reading at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, November 2012

Persian Gardens (one act), staged reading by Jewish Women’s Theater, 4 performances, March 2012; staged reading at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, November 2012

Cooking Lessons (one act), staged reading by Jewish Women’s Theater, 4 performances, May 19-26, 2013

Saffron and Rosewater, staged reading, November 23, 2013; 92nd Street Y, Kaufman Concert Hall.

Honors and Awards

Finalist, National Jewish Book Award, The Luminous Heart of Jonah S., 2014Finalist, Essay, Los Angeles Press Club Award, 2013Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith selected as one of “The Best LA Books/Fiction” by the Los Angeles Times, October 4, 2011Finalist, Essay, Los Angeles Press Club Award, 2011Winner, First Place, Persian Heritage Award 2008Finalist, Essay, Los Angeles Press Club Award, 2008Caspian Rain nominated by MacAdam Cage Publishing for the National Book Award, 2007Caspian Rain nominated by MacAdam Cage Publishing for the Pulitzer Prize, 2007Caspian Rain selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Chicago Tribune, December, 2007

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Caspian Rain selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” San Francisco Chronicle, December, 2007Finalist, Essay, Los Angeles Press Club Award, 2007Judge, Fiction/First Fiction Category: LA Times Book Prizes, 2005, 2006Winner: Simon Rockower Award, 2002Sunday’s Silence selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Los Angeles Times, December, 2001Final Long List: Orange Prize for Fiction, 2000Finalist: IMPAC Award, 2000Finalist: Harold U. Ribalow Award, 2000Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Los Angeles Times, December, 1999Cry of the Peacock nominated by Crown Publishers for the Pulitzer Prize, 1992First Place: Los Angeles Arts Council Award for Fiction, 1988First Place: Distinguished Masters Thesis Award, USC, 1988First Place: Phi Kappa Phi Award, USC, 1986Honorable Mention: Nelson Algren Award, Chicago Magazine, 1985

Professional Recognition

American Jewish University’s “Burning Bush Award,” 2010Bradeis University’s National Women’s Committee Award, 2008Brandeis University, “Words, Wit, and Wisdom” Award (Twice) Honoree, Hadassah, North AmericaHonoree, Jewish National FundHonoree, B’nai Zion, Western Region

Languages

Fluent in French, Spanish, Persian

Departmental/University Service

New Courses Developed

Writer’s Marketplace, designed to educate students in the business aspect of publishing.

Oral History: Witness and Writing, designed to train writers of all disciplines (fiction, non- fiction, screen and television writing) in development of Character, Conflict, and Plot. A unique aspect of this class is the use of the archives of the Shoah Institute.

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Fiction Workshop, the Novel, designed to help novelists conceive, develop, outline, and create a full-length novel.Course Continuity in a Crisis, designed to allow classes to be held remotely during and after an emergency.

Courses Taught

Fiction WorkshopFiction Workshop, the NovelWriter’s Marketplace (formerly entitled Literary Marketplace) Literature and Approaches to Writing the NovelOral History, Witness and WritingLiterature and Approaches to Writing the Novel Teaching Innovations and Multi-Media Teaching

Fellowship from USC’s Shoah Foundation Institute, “for incorporating the study of the center’s video archives,through video and distance learning technology, into a course curriculum.” Summer, 2013

C3 Grant, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, “to pilot various types of assignments and technologies, and to assess their effectiveness in supporting learning on an emergency basis and as a temporary replacement for face-to-face teaching.” Spring, 2013.

Learning Environments grant from USC’s Center for Scholarly Technology, to “encourage the adoption of mobile computing technology and instructional strategies that leverage the new features of these renovated spaces.” Fall, 2013

Thesis Advisement for Credit

Between Summer 2008, and Spring 2014 I advised 45 students in Directed Research or Thesis Project.

Development

In 2012, I secured Fellowships for my students from the Shoah Institute.

In 2008, I secured an offer for an annual $10,000 Poetry Award, with publication, for MPW students from MacAdam Cage Publishers. In 2009, I secured offer of an annual

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scholarship from the Casden Institute for work with a Jewish theme. I also served for one semester in 2010 as Faculty Liaison for the USC MPW Alumni Association.

Outreach/Community Partnerships

Between 2007 and 2010, I produced and moderated panels of experts in publishing, film, and television.

In 2007-2008, I organized a partnership and created blueprint for "One Book, One City" program at USC, in partnership with Mayor Villaraigosa’s office.

In 2008, I suggested and helped design a Summer Writers' Conference at USC.

Committee Service

I have served on the Admissions Committee (reading, evaluating, and recommending applicant files) and Thesis Approval Committee (reading and evaluating students’ Master’s thesis).

Conferences

Speaker/Presenter:

Iranian American Women’s Leadership Conference, Orange County, CA, September 8, 2013Iranian American Women’s Leadership Conference, Washington, D.C., June 23, 2012Cal State University, Long Beach Writer’s Conference, November 10, 2011Iranian American Women’s Leadership Conference, Irvine, California, October 23, 2011Jewish Libraries Association Annual Conference, June 18, 2011

Attendee: History, Unlimited, UCLA April 21, 2012American Jewish Congress, 2012Digital Book Conference, Book Expo America, May 2010

Lectures

Upcoming in 2015July 16-The Gathering, Keystone CollegeMay 22-University Synagogue, LAApril 13-Wellesley CollegeApril 11-Literary Orange, Orange County, CA

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March 19-Palisades LibraryFebruary 19-Sinai Temple, Los AngelesJanuary 14-Temple Emanuel, Beverly Hills January 15-Newport Beach Library

2014November 18-Literary AffairsNovember 16-San Diego Jewish Book FairNovember 10-Stephen S. Wise TempleNovember 5-New York Public LibraryNovember 4-Temple Israel of Great NeckNovember 2-30Years After conferenceNovember 1-Westwood LibraryOctober 23-Writer’s BlocOctober 21-National Women’s Book AssociationSeptember 12-American Jewish UniversityAugust 7-Westwood LibraryMay 8-Hadassah Southern CaliforniaFebruary 2-30 Years AfterJanuary 9-Stephen S. Wise Temple

2013November 3, 2013-National Council of Jewish WomenOctober 16, 2013-Anti-Defamation League, Japanese-American MuseumOctober 5, 2013-San Diego Public LibraryJune 8, 2013-Levantine Cultural CenterMarch 8-9-Temple Beth Shalom, Palm Springs, CA, Scholar in ResidenceApril 13-Golestan, Berkeley, CA, SpeakerApril 17-American Jewish University, Keynote Speaker

2012January 25-Southern California Connections, PanelistApril 7-Shalhevet High School, Keynote SpeakerMay 1-Universal Love Foundation, Keynote Speaker May 20-Larger Than Life, Keynote Speaker

2011March 8—Keynote speaker, 30 Voices, Los AngelesApril 7—Speaker, Shalhevet High SchoolApril 30—Speaker, LA Times Festival of BooksMay 5—Keynote Speaker, Universal Love FoundationOctober 23—Speaker, Iranian American Leadership Foundation

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December 5—Speaker, California State University, Long Beach

2010January 18--Women’s Philharmonic Society, Costa Mesa, CA March 4--Progressive Jewish Alliance, Skirball Cultural Center March 11--Best of Times: Writing in the Age of the Internet, USC March 14--Tucson Festival of Books, Tucson, AZ (March 14)March 23--Friends of the Casden Institute, USC October 4--San Diego Jewish Women’s AllianceOctober 10—30 Years After Civic Action ConferenceNovember 13—Soroptimists, La HabraNovember 14—“Sunday Word Play,” Milken Community High School

2005-2009American Jewish Congress, Annual Board of Directors MeetingCasden Institute, USCLoyola Marymount UniversityDecatur Book Festival, ATL, GeorgiaLos Angeles Institute for the Humanities, USCLos Angeles Public LibraryNewport Beach Public LibraryGeorgetown UniversityCentenary CollegeBrandeis University, NYUCLA Friends of English LACMAPacific Asia MuseumBowers MuseumAutry National CenterLos Angeles Central Library, ALOUDSkirball Cultural CenterGoogle Headquarters, Palo Alto, CALos Angeles Times Festival of BooksSanta Barbara Literary FestivalSan Francisco Central LibrarySan Clemente Public LibraryToronto International Festival of AuthorsMiami Book FestivalDecatur Book Festival, Atlanta American Jewish UniversityWest Hollywood Festival of BooksNCIBA

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Twin Cities Book FestivalSan Diego JCC Book Festival Fullerton Book FestivalAAUW Hadassah InternationalInternational Women’s ForumJewish National Fund Annual ConferenceLong Beach Women’s ConferenceNextbook—Los AngelesNextbook—Chicago, Nextbook--SeattleWashington, DC Jewish Literary FestivalMarcus Jewish Community CenterIrvine JCC Book FestivalAnn Arbor JCCSan Francisco JCCDetroit Jewish Book CouncilJewish Federation, San Gabriel and Pomona American Association of University Women, Laguna BeachAmerican Association of University Women, Long BeachWomen’s American ORTWomen for Conservative JudaismWomen of LA/Women of WashingtonWomen’s Media GroupWomen’s Dialogue, Los AngelesIAWC (Iranian American Writers of Southern California)IWOSC (Independent Writers of Southern California)San Francisco BJE Jewish Community LibraryJewish Community Center, IrvineThirty-Years-After National ConferenceAssociated Writing Programs, ChicagoCasden Institute, USCLos Angeles Institute for the Humanities, USCNewport Beach Public LibraryBeverly Hills Public LibraryWestwood Public Library

BoardsThirty Years After, Board of AdvisorsPEN Center USA West, Board of DirectorsInternational Women’s Media Foundation, Board of AdvisorsB’nai Zion Western Region, Board of DirectorsInternational Women’s Forum, Member

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Maple Counseling Center, Beverly Hills

Media Coverage

Television

PBS—Tavis Smiley ShowCNBC—Dennis Miller Show KTTV TV—News News Channel 8, Springfield, VA—“Weekday Report”WUSA TV, Washington, D.C. “Morning NewsNews Channel 8, Washington, D.C., “Afternoon Report”WAGA TV, Atlanta, “Good Day Atlanta”Jewish Television Network

Radio InterviewsKCRWKPCCKPFKKABC RadioKALW Radio Weekend Edition Sunday, National Public RadioDiane Rehm Show, NPRMilt Rosenberg Show, NPRVoice of AmericaWCCO Radio, MinneapolisWGN Radio, ChicagoWILL RadioWNYC RadioWisconsin Public RadioWorking Assets RadioWIP Radio, ConversationsCHIN FM Radio, Zelda Young ShowMinnesota Public Radio, MidmorningWGN Radio, Extension 720 KUOW, NPR, The ConversationWABE Radio, NPR, Between the LinesKUCI Radio, NPR, Writers on WritingWVIK, NPR, About BooksMichael Dresser’s ShowKCLU Radio, NPR, Beyond Words

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WVMT Newstalk Radio, Charlie and Ernie in the MorningWRPN Radio, Morning ShowWLW Radio, Jim Scott ShowWICO Newstalk RadioWGVU, NPR, Morning ShowWDOK Radio, Cleveland ConnectionKVON Radio, Late Morning EditionKWGS, NPR, Studio TulsaCable Radio News, The AM ShowKCMN Radio, Morning ShowMedia Tracks Radio, ViewpointsWestwood One Radio Network, Entertainment NewsKYW Newstalk RadioWQUB Radio, NPR, ConversationsKPQ Radio, 2 o’clock ShowWCBM Radio, Maggie Pascal ShowWTBQ Radio, Morning ShowWABE Radio, NPR, Between the LinesKUCI, NPR, Writers on Writing

Non-Teaching Work Experience

The Rand Corporation, Consultant. Project sponsored by the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Worked with Francis Fukyuama (1985-1987)

University of California, Los Angeles, Department of History, Research Assistant for Professor Richard Ashcroft (1980-1981)

Book Publications in Translation

Caspian RainItaly / RH MondadoriGreece / LivanisBrazil / GeracaoGermany / MarebuchSerbia / Mono & MananaIsrael / OfarimSpain / El AndenCzech Republic / EuromediaSlovak Republic / IkarPoland / Ksiaznica

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Denmark / AschehougPortugal / QuidnoviTaiwan / Yuan-LiouChina / Guangxi NormalTurkey / Bercem

Sunday’s SilenceEngland/S&S; Netherlands/Prometheus; Germany/Luebbe, Poland/Ksianznica; Slovakia/Slovart

Moonlight on the Avenue of FaithEngland/S&S; Germany/Luebbe; France/Editions de la Table Ronde; Italy/Piemme; Netherlands/Prometheus/Burt Bakker; Sweden/Wahlstrom; Denmark/Viva-Wangel/audio AV Forlaget; Brazil/Geracao; Czechoslovakia/Rybka; Poland/Ksiaznica Wydawnictwo; Hungary/Magyar Konyvklub; Greece/Livani; Israel/Hed Arzi; Turkey/Citlenbik; Slovakia/Slovart; Serbia/Narodna Krjinga

Cry of the PeacockEngland/S&S, Germany/Luebbe, Italy/Piemme; Brazil/Geracao; France/Editions de la Table Ronde; Holland/Prometheus/Burt Bakker; Poland/Ksiaznica; Israel/Modan

Favorable Reviews and Features in the Printed Press

Western Europe, South America, Asia, China, Taiwan,The Middle East, and Eastern Europe available upon request

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In the United States

THE LUMINOUS HEART OF JONAH S.

“Lyrical, shrewd, and daring novelist Nahai . . . writes with acute emotional and nearly anthropological perception, laser-wit, and deep compassion. . . . With touches of magic realism, extraordinary characters, and a spiraling, multigenerational plot involving fraud, a murder mystery, epic suffering, heroic generosity, women’s struggle for freedom, and the clash between East and West, Nahai’s mythic, tragic, often beautiful immigrant family saga illuminates timeless questions of prejudice, trauma, inheritance, loyalty, and love.”—Booklist, Starred review

“A riveting tale. . . . Readers will be well rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred review

“A wide-ranging, page-turning, magical realist, multigenerational family saga and Iranian-Jewish-American immigration tale enveloped in a murder mystery . . . it both entertains and instructs, and its differing genres seem more complimentary than conflicting.”—New York Journal of Books

“Nahai has crafted an engaging combination of family saga and murder mystery, placed it in the framework of a relatively unknown subculture, and people it with fascinating characters. Flavored with both elements of magical realism and down-to-earth observations, The Luminous Heart of Jonah S. brings a little-known Los Angeles community to vivid life.”—Shelf Awareness

“What results is a novel that feels more universal than anything, and an engrossing, expansive epic that charts not only thousands years of Iranian Jewish life, but the brutality of one family’s survival amidst revolution and cultural upheaval.”—Kirkus Reviews, Feature on Gina B. Nahai

“One of the many pleasures of this sprawling, multigenerational story is the way it transcends the specifics of the Iranian diaspora with insights that could apply to anyone.”—LA Weekly

“One of Nahai’s gifts is her astute observation of this community, her own, which she describes with unsparing precision.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Nahai’s eye for detail, whether it’s succinctly summing up a funeral or providing a description of a Tehran summer, always seems to be spot on.”—PopMatters

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“An intriguing murder-mystery journey anchored within the Iranian-Jewish community of Los Angeles. Vivid and raw . . . Nahai masterfully introduces us to the mythical and mundane layers that make up Iranian-American identity.”—Washington Independent Review of Books

“It’s the family connections—the true Iranian heritage—that is the luminous heart of the novel.”—The Reporter Group

“This is irresistible storytelling . . . Nahai uses her estimable gifts to offer a nuanced, sometimes satirical portrait of the tight-knit Iranian-Jewish exile community in Los Angeles . . . It’s a fascinating read.”—BookPage

“Nahai has crafted a story that will move you with its exploration of the bonds that tie a family together or tear it asunder.”—San Diego Jewish Journal

“[Nahai’s] novel has an intoxicating and driving rhythm that pulls you right in . . . [a] beautiful book.”—Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

“A sprawling and unlikely combination of Dickens, Gabriel García Márquez and Raymond Chandler, sweeping in the super-rich and the struggles of both Tehran and Los Angeles.”—The National (UAE)

“Simultaneously ironic, dramatic, and witty.”—BBC, Ten Books to Read in October

“An energetically inventive epic . . . Nahai’s boisterous, sardonic, sometimes-lurid portrait of a community and the devil in its midst offers unusual, engrossing storytelling.”—Kirkus Reviews

One of Jewish Journal‘s Noteworthy Books for the New Year

One of Jewish Woman Magazine‘s 8 Great Fall Reads

One of Publishers Weekly‘s Big Indie Books of Fall 2014

One of Library Journal‘s 25 Key Indie Fiction Titles for Fall 2014–Winter 2015

“Orange Prize and IMPAC Award finalist Nahai (Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith) returns after seven years with a distinctive look at Iranian Jewish life in America, featuring a Los Angeles–based family hounded for decades by an unprincipled financier from their own community. His disappearance upends everything.”—Library Journal Prepub Alert, “25 Key Indie Fiction Titles, Fall 2014–Winter 2015″

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Included in Library Journal‘s Books That Buzzed at BEA Roundup, the first word on titles and trends from Barbara Hoffert, Editor

“With The Luminous Heart of Jonah S., Orange Prize and IMPAC Award finalist Gina B. Nahai returns after seven years with another novel of bristly beauty, offering a distinctive look at Iranian Jewish life in America.”—Library Journal, Books for the Masses/Editors’ Picks BEA 2014

“Gina B. Nahai has written a brilliant, funny, poignant, and thrilling novel about an Iranian Jewish family’s struggle to find its identity in exile in America. Part murder mystery, part comic novel, The Luminous Heart of Jonah S. is a book you will not be able to put down.”—Reza Aslan, author of Zealot and No god but God

“Gina B. Nahai uses her gift for storytelling to add to the pantheon of American immigrant tales, but this time with an Iranian Jewish twist. This novel not only entertains, but asks the bigger question: do immigrants reinvent themselves in America or simply live out their destinies?”—Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi

“Gina B. Nahai has given us a remarkable new work—part murder mystery, part lyrical novel, part sociological study of Iranian Jewish culture between Tehran and LA. Her sections on old Jewish Iran are simply transcendent; her insights into the Iranian exile culture in California, its excesses and vulnerabilities, are fascinating to read. Nahai brings a mystical touch to whatever she describes, reminding us of the magic—and at times dark and terrifying forces—of this world that so many were forced to leave behind, but continued to carry within them even decades later and thousands of miles away in America. Bravo.”—Lucette Lagnado, author of The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit and The Arrogant Years

“Equal parts Gabriel García Márquez, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Persian Bonfire of the Vanities, this is Gina B. Nahai’s breakout book, a quantum leap forward in ambition, humor, and scope that’s sure to win her legions of new fans and catapult her onto ‘Best Book of the Year’ and award short lists. Set in 1950s–’90s Tehran and LA, and gleefully skewering the excesses of both, Nahai’s assured, masterly voice sweeps the reader in with its page-turning murder plot, but it’s her colorful characters—who are by turns diabolical, hilarious, poignant, scheming, vengeful, tragic, and lovelorn—who form this book’s pulsing, exuberant heart.”—Denise Hamilton, author of Damage Control

“Gina B. Nahai’s new novel is a boisterous, sometimes hilarious look at a community rarely seen in America. The Iranian Jewish families here fight for the same thing we all

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fight for—recognition and, of course, love.”—Susan Straight, author of Between Heaven and Here

CASPIAN RAIN

A Los Angeles Times Bestseller A September 2007 Booksense SelectionA Chicago Tribune “2007 Favorite”

"This novel is nothing less than a literary sensation, not only because it revives Iran's past in a heavenly precise prose, but also since we will all too soon desperately look for books which explain this country. To truly understand Iran, you have to read this novel." -- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

“Entrancing…Caspian Rain is a beautiful study in disappointment and ineffable loss, in the conflict between duty and desire. Nahai shows her characters just as they are, damaged. They are keenly aware of how they'd like to change their lives – and of how limited their options really are.” – Los Angeles Times

“Nahai evokes even peripheral characters in vivid detail: the daughter of Argentine exiles (and suspected Nazis) blares tango music from her window and shows up at her parents’ funeral with a hot-pink flower behind her ear; a former student activist, broken under torture by the secret police, scavenges for dead women’s hair…” – New Yorker

“A glimpse into a largely alien culture. Nahai tells [the] story with elegance and insight.” – New York Times Book Review

“Nahai’s power as a story-teller flows from her desire to weave the brutal facts of modern Iranian history with fantastic narratives of familial rupture and political displacement. American readers will be absorbed by [her] colorful evocation of the characters. From her clear-eyed yet deeply emphatic perch in the New World, Nahai sounds the emotional costs of exile as she explores the trauma of loss for her fellow émigrés. She is, after all, that subculture’s finest chronicler.” – Chicago Tribune

“…beautiful and haunting…Nahai's narrative skill and linguistic talent shine.” – San Francisco Chronicle“Heartbreakingly captivating, Nahai’s novel nonetheless evokes hope…darkly enticing…Set in pre-revolution Iran, this somber, beautifully written novel is a look into the unfulfilled lives of a hugely dysfunctional Iranian Jewish family and a far-reaching story of the ever-persevering human spirit…Nahai's writing is poetic, with provocative turns of phrase over which to pause….”

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– Miami Herald

“Nahai deftly creates the smells and daily routines of an old Tehran neighborhood…[and] a colorful cast of quirky characters.” – Washington Post

“Caspian Rain guides readers deep into the inner sanctum of one painfully divided family in the years leading up to Iran's Islamic Revolution…Nahai has you hooked from start to finish…Her unusual yet effective narrative flow portrays this world in a way that leaves behind the typical ‘veils and misogyny’ stereotypes most Americans know from contemporary Iran. And yet, Nahai's story gives colorful narrative to the cultural forces at play in the years leading up to the arrival of Islamic fundamentalism in this most misunderstood country…an uncommonly poignant tale. Caspian Rain is an English major’s book—even the smallest aside reinforces the book’s overarching themes of loss and exile. Each detail, each character Nahai conceives is, as Yaas notes, ‘Tragic to the core, but also mesmerizing.’ ” – Chicago Sun-Times

“Readers are allowed a singular look into the world of Iranian Jews and their hierarchy…This lyrical and literary novel is beautifully written.” – USA Today

“Vivid and accurate…In Caspian Rain Gina B. Nahai demonstrates that suffering is a cultural imprint…Perhaps Nahai’s intention is best illuminated by the naming of her characters. In Persian, Omid means Hope, Bahar means spring or renewal, and Yaas means Poet’s Jasmine. But Yaas also means sorrow. It is our job to understand the relationship of the three, and to unravel the web they’ve woven around loss. “ San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times

“This tender story, set during the shah’s rule before the Iranian revolution, has the inevitability of Greek tragedy…[Nahai] offers readers a striking recollection of the sounds, smells and landscapes of her native land. This is a beautifully written picture of a culture caught between the modern West and ancient Islam.” – Providence Journal

“Like drops of acid, Gina Nahai’s words burn the pages of this moving novel about the fate of women in pre-revolutionary Iran. Nahai’s alluring poetic style draws us into the lives of her female characters. We identify with their hopes and desires, but we also sense their frustration. Beneath the novel’s calm and captivating prose is a powerful testament to Iranian women’s fight against oppression.” – Ms. Magazine

“…beautifully rendered, with passages that urge rereading…Nahai is a born storyteller. Her novel resonates with an almost audible vibration, as though she had curled up next to you on a rainy evening and begun to spin her tale.” – Portland Tribune

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“Spirit, a mystical tone, sharp social analysis and telling detail inform Caspian Rain, Gina Nahai's fine novel about Iran in the '70s, before mullah rule replaced the monarchy of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in the Islamic Revolution…vivid…singularly poignant.” – Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Nahai's compelling novel depicts one family's tale of alienation and loss…a vivid study of a broken home.” – Entertainment Weekly

“The interlocking tales read like myths; Nahai’s writing is compassionate even as it indicts.” – Los Angeles Magazine

“Gina B. Nahai's beguiling fourth novel Caspian Rain provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of a lost world — those of Jewish-Iranians living under the Shah…[it] sheds light on the hypocrisies, emotional deprivations and inter-class tensions within the city's Jewish community. Nahai's group portrait is rich, complex and unsparing, rendered with a highly professional prose style.” – Tennessean

“A story that blooms into full imaginative flower…In an indication of Nahai's talent and powers of invention, she invests her narrative with a strong tragic inevitability…vivid and credible cast of characters, and a visual sense of Tehran and Iranian society as experienced by Jews living under what was, for them, the liberal policies of the Shah.” – South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“[Nahai] focuses on one family, humanizing a people and a place that, these days, are more often associated with uranium-enrichment programs and sponsorship of terrorism….she’s deft at painting a bleak picture that we want to look at—not as a morbid curiosity but as thoughtful, often heartbreaking art.” – Paste Magazine

“Caspian Rain is a thrill to read. Heartbreak and hope fill the pages. Nahai delves deep into fear, love, jealousy, and obsession—and with evocative language, and a rich and complex story, takes us to another culture.” – The Brooklyn Rail

“Nahai’s story of a haunted Jewish family in Tehran during the shah’s last years possesses the dark beauty and harsh lessons of a fairy tale…Nahai’s poetic and cathartic drama speaks for all silenced women, for all who are tyrannized.” – Booklist STARRED review

“…both a riveting family drama and compelling historical fiction…The multiple ways Jews and Muslims intersect is also clearly presented, offering a fascinating glimpse into Persian life prior to the 1979 insurgency. Richly detailed, emotionally intense, and tremendously moving, this work is highly recommended.” – Library Journal STARRED review

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“In her stirring fourth novel, Nahai explores the struggles of an Iranian family in the tenuous decade before the Islamic revolution…a poignant tale of a ‘damaged family.’”– Publishers Weekly

“…beautifully written, absorbing and moving…magical…[Nahai] does a beautiful job of ushering us through an Iran most of us don't know – of colors and scents, of mountains and beaches, of slums and mansions…the poetry and the emotional quality of Nahai's writing will linger long after the book is closed.” – Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

“Gina Nahai’s powerful storytelling voice illuminates an intriguing foreign culture and blasts our preconceived views of Iranian Jewish émigrés. Nahai, a gifted and poetic writer, deserves a wide readership both for her ability to humanize a country many Americans perceive as hostile and extreme and for the light she sheds on Iranian Jewish history and culture.” San Diego Jewish Journal

“Remarkable…Caspian Rain offers a troublingly beautiful portrait of an array of characters as families disintegrate and dreams go awry. There is so much empathy in a book laced with cruelty and so many inventive flights of fancy in a novel deep in traps made of false hope. This is a smartly executed story of longing and emptiness and of both cacophony and silence.” Jewish Book World

“…lovely and graceful…Nahai's writing is poetic and original, sometimes stark and sometimes transcendent…Poetic and original…” – BookReporter.com

“Yaas recounts the story of her family’s unraveling against a rich cast of secondary characters…Caspian Rain is a moving mother-daughter story with a wealth of interesting characters.” – The Feminist Review

“[Told] in a unique, rhythmic voice that’s equal parts hope and cynicism…Caspian Rain gracefully depicts the dynamics of a divided family by taking us through the diverse spheres and structures of Iranian society not often glimpsed in English literature.” – Venus Zine

“Caspian Rain is a beautifully written book about the constraints of living in a Middle-Eastern culture. Focusing on the lives of two Jewish women living in Iran during the rule of the Shah, it is an intimate portrait of hope betrayed, lost, and regained…[a] poignant story.” – Curledup.com

“Caspian Rain is a fascinating, tragic coming-of-age story…Some beautiful writing and a compelling story…A rare glimpse into one family’s inner sanctum prior to Iran’s Islamic Revolution.” Bookmarks Magazine

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”Nahai's writing is poetic and original, sometimes stark and sometimes transcendent. Poetic and original also describes this tale. Because there is a sweetness to Nahai's prose, an otherwise gloomy and hopeless tale is lovely and graceful.” Bookreporter.com

“…a beautifully written inside view of Jewish-Iranian culture…Gina B. Nahai captivates with this tale of Iranian despondency the same way Isabel Allende opens the confusion and horrors of Central and South America.” – PopSyndicate.com

“ Nahai’s prose is at once elegant and tinged with melancholy…An enlightening glimpse into an unfamiliar culture and society. While the societal constraints—especially against women—might be a little difficult for some to relate to, the family divided, sadly, is a theme that is universal.” “Laist.com

“Filled with hope and despair, Caspian Rain is Nahai's most emotional and inspiring novel yet. Nahai's heroine—the inspired and inspiring Yaas—learns the lessons of obedience, subservience, and forbearance, and then chooses a surprising and unexpected path.” – Lisa See, author of Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

“In Caspian Rain, Gina Nahai writes with subtlety and grace about the unappeasable forces of culture, class and family which shape the life of a young girl growing up in Jewish Tehran before the mullahs.” – Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander and Paint it Black

“Unexpected and heartrending, but also witty, elegiac, sophisticated and edgy. Caspian Rain is a beautiful book.” – Chris Abani, author of Graceland and The Virgin of Flames

“Caspian Rain once more proves Gina B. Nahai's ability to create through her wonderfully lyrical prose a fictional world that, while rooted in a particular culture and history, is universally relevant and appealing.” – Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran

“With her fourth novel, Gina B. Nahai establishes herself among the top rank of writers of her generation. In Caspian Rain, she brings to stunning life a cast of characters that continues to haunt the reader.” – John Rechy, author of City of Night

“In exquisite, poetic vignettes, Caspian Rain tells the intense story of a mother and daughter in search of approval within upper-class Iranian social circles. Ultimately though, what they struggle towards is acceptance from one another. Nahai’s writing is a graceful balancing act between the lush and the stark. Her gorgeous sentences cut to the bone.”– Cristina Garcia, author of Monkey Hunting and Dreaming in Cuban

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“Gina Nahai's beautifully written novel Caspian Rain is evocative and poetic, with striking images that remain in the mind long after they are read. It is also a heart-wrenching examination of the tragedies of women caught in the net of gender, history, family secrets and the unbending laws of high society. But ultimately it is a celebration of the human spirit—the moments of joy and courage and risk-taking that make all our lives worth living.”– Chitra Divakaruni, author of Mistress of Spices and Queen of Dreams

“Lovers of the art of storytelling should know Gina B. Nahai. Much more than a fascinating, page-turning glimpse into the tribes and classes of Iran, Caspian Rain is an exquisite novel which, like a Ghost Boy on a bicycle, will continue to magically haunt its readers long after its ending.” – Sandra Tsing Loh, author of Depth Takes a Holiday and A Year in Van Nuys

“Gina Nahai, a gifted storyteller with a unique and powerful voice, invites us into a strange, unsettling but ultimately beguiling world, a place of both pain and enchantment. Remarkably, she allows to glimpse the hard realities of life in contemporary Iran in a new and unaccustomed light while, at the same time, she shows us that the innermost truths of the human heart are truly universal. Caspian Rain is both timely and timeless, an important book that comes at just the right time.” – Jonathan Kirsch, author of A History of the End of the World

“In Caspian Rain, Gina Nahai takes us on a privileged journey into an Iran a contemporary traveler can only hope to know through fiction – an Iran before the Islamic Revolution where women could aspire to independence and dream of larger lives. Through the eyes of her 12-year-old heroine, we see a whole society mirrored, a society enmeshed in superstition but struggling to emerge into modernity. A heroine –and a book – to embrace. I was mesmerized.”– Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of A Woman of Independent Means

“If writers do indeed write what they know, then Gina Nahai has a PhD in the human heart. Her characters inhabit their culture and their time so profoundly that her readers do too; from moments of magical realism to years of anxious drifting and struggling, Nahai's characters are as much in search of themselves as the turbulent nation they live in.” – Patt Morrison, author of Rio L.A., Tales from the Los Angeles River

“The writing in Caspian Rain is so lyrical and flowing that you almost forget just how hard life can be for someone who is doomed to forever be an outsider. Bahar, who marries above her station, finds that she is isolated from both the family and society she marries into and the family and friends she left behind…Nahai has written a novel that illuminates a complex society while offering up a very specific and moving story of one woman's desire to maintain her dignity and tenuous standing within that diffident society.” – Laura Hansen, Bookin’ It (Little Falls, MN)

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“Nahai’s prose…is at once elegant and tinged with melancholy…an enlightening glimpse into an unfamiliar culture and society.” – LAist.com

SUNDAY’S SILENCE

“One of the Best Books of 2001” LA Times

“Exsquisite…Gina Nahai looks at snake-handling from the inside, and the cliché’s of Appalachia slough off like old skin, revealing the fright and the awe that makes extreme Christianity so potent. Because Nahai is not interested in sensationalizing such extreme religious notions, Sunday’s Silence demands that we pay them attention and lets us understand a little better their powerful lure.” Los Angeles Times

“A bold, passionate tale of fanaticism and seduction. Sensitively and vividly rendered. Exotic, mythic…a tale told by a Scheherazade…parts of the tale told on different nights, each fascinating in its own right, each contributing to the story but also telling more than the story needs. Nahai lays her story of a strange folk and the enigma of charisma against a background rich in history. Sunday’s Silence is an ambitious and entertaining novel that will please fans of Nahai’s novels. It could also win her new readers.” Chicago Tribune

“Sunday’s Silence is exactly the kind of book that Americans need to be reading right now, a book in which East and West collide, not only in war, but in love. Nahai writes equally well about these two worlds, both beautiful and cruel, both filled with serpents real and imagined. The novel is a testament to the fact that even at our strangest we are not so different, that at our strangest we are most alike.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Gina Nahai has set her third novel in a world that is exotic, terrifying, and endlessly alluring. She has the ability to deploy the telling detail, to write …a marvelous sentence…passages that contain a wonderful, authentic rhythm.” The Washington Post Book World

“Astonishing…a searing romance, a spiritual quest, a compelling tale. Myth, history, faith, love and desire crash into each other and burn throughout Sunday’s Silence but it is the interplay of all of these with fundamentalism that drives this lyrical work. Nahai’s true achievement is to dig deep into the heart, soul, and—perhaps more difficult—the psyche of Christian fundamentalism at its most extreme. Sunday’s Silence is an eloquent look into the heart of belief, into hearts of darkness and hearts of light.” The San Diego Union-Tribune

“A literary tour-de-force…A novel of powerful magnetism…An accomplishment worth celebrating. Nahai skillfully weaves the tangled separate stories of her characters, and she

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does it as effectively as Faulkner did years earlier with the hidden lives of his characters.” Denver Rocky Mountain News

“Haunting…Nahai’s dreamlike story beguiles with its depiction of a world where worshippers drink strychnine to prove their faith. Home, we learn, still casts a powerful spell.” People Magazine

“In the tradition of Southern Writers from Faulkner to O’Connor…Nahai captivates, filling her stories with characters and multi-voiced narratives that rival those of her earlier works.” Los Angeles Magazine

“Unusual and enthralling. Nahai deftly explores the enigma of charisma. Most intriguing is the author’s highly stylistic treatment of the question of faith versus fanaticism and the notion of fear as the strongest motivating force for those who seeks salvation.” San Antonio Express-News

“Valuable for its illumination of fanatical faith and for its revelation of cultures…Nahai’s Appalachia is a place of isolated beauty, crushing poverty and appalling ignorance. Here, the holy rollers breed faith by fear, demanding members handle snakes, drink strychnine and plunge their limbs into fire as piety tests.” The Orlando Sentinel

“Faith versus fundamentalism, fear as a motivating force for seeking salvation…Nahai explores the enigma of charisma, opening a window on an insular world and rendering the ‘other’ America explicable.” Publishers Weekly

“A spectacular, disquieting, and poetic tale.” Bookreporter.com

MOONLIGHT ON THE AVENUE OF FAITH

One of the Best Books of 1999, by the Los Angeles Times

“A skilled and inventive writer, Nahai demonstrates in Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith that even the darkest magic cannot defeat the extraordinary powers of love … Nahai has achieved some wonderful effects, infusing everyday events with miraculous radiance.” The New York Times Book Review

“Entrancing…a voice that never loses its poise, that balances cynicism with hope, warmth with satire, the heavy ballast of life with the exhilaration of being borne aloft.” The Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Exotic and beautiful and rich…a seductive novel…A Testament to the power and beauty of Gina Nahai’s writing and the world she so brilliantly illuminates. We jump on the

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magic carpet, soar above the Avenue of Faith, satisfied to let this gifted storyteller weave her spell.” The Boston Globe

“A novel of stunning beauty and power…a supreme accomplishment. The magical realism so perfectly wrought by Garcia Marquez has rarely been equaled, perhaps only by Toni Morrison in “Song of Solomon” and here in Nahai’s novel.” Cleveland Plain Dealer

“A multigenerational story as intricate and richly hued as a Persian carpet. As she revealed in ‘Cry of the Peacock’, Nahai possesses an array of talents, all of which glitter in ‘Moonlight’. Nahai’s writing recalls that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Amy Tan, yet her prose bears its own stamp of inventiveness and vivacity…A modern-day Scheherazade” The Orlando Sentinel

“A sprawling tapestry of a novel…clear testimony to her skill as a storyteller. Gina Nahai works in elegant contrasts, the spellbinding extremes of the best of the magical realist tradition, conjuring a story that glows as if lit by a subtle, internal fire.” Portland Oregonian

“A nice addition to the canon of magic realism…Ms. Nahai’s lyrical command of her words carries through consistently. The book’s effectiveness deepens into a powerful and surprising final chapter.” The Dallas Morning News

“Lyrical, beautiful…a languid, steamy read.” The Toronto Star

“Absorbing…Through the power of Nahai’s language, the past becomes present…This book is not a fairytale, not a poem, not a mystery story. Like moonlight, it is a little of each. So the Avenue of Faith is not just the novel’s setting, but also the mindset that informs its characters—and readers.” The Virginian Pilot

“Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith paves the way for Ms. Nahai to claim her place among other cultural women writers such as Amy Tan and Toni Morrison. Readers will not only gain some insight into a new people, but will also discover a storyteller who captivates an audience.” Baltimore Jewish Times

“Spellbinding…Marvelously compelling.” Publisher’s Weekly

“Highly Recommended” Library Journal, Starred Review

“Beautifully written…a lush, absorbing novel.” Pat Holt/ former editor of San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

CRY OF THE PEACOCK

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Alternate selection of The Book of the Month Club and The Doubleday Book Club.

“A spellbinding story that is hard to put down.” The Los Angeles Times

“What is surprising is how well it succeeds. This is an important novel. For it sheds light on an enigmatic part of the world with which Westerners must reckon.” The Washington Post

“A remarkable achievement. The author is first and foremost a storyteller who is able to move her complex plot along with beguiling dexterity. Hers is a novel on a grand scale. A significant work.” The Kansas City Star

“I knew before I opened “Cry of the Peacock” that I was embarking on something dangerous and unforgettable. I will never look at the Mideast quite the same again. Cry of the Peacock is an extremely important book, and fulfills one of the main tenets of reading: to learn and to understand.” Sun Sentinel, Florida

“Poised between magic and history. An unusual and effective novel.” San Francisco Chronicle

“Unusual…fascinating. Even the real political figures and historical events are somehow transformed by the poetry of Nahai’s style.” Houston Chronicle

“A series of linked tales that read like the Arabian Nights.” The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intellingencer

“This fascinating book on a little known subject is essential for public library fiction collections.” Library Journal

“Nahai succeeds in personalizing history, opening a window onto the baffling political history of Iran and its neighbors.” Publishers Weekly

“Lots of period detail, vivid characters, and historical background make for an instructive read on a little-known era and place.” Kirkus

“Strongly recommended for contemporary fiction collections.” Booklist

“A sweeping tale of the persecution and intolerance of Jews in Iran. Throughout the novel flows an undercurrent of mysticism and superstition reminiscent of Latin American authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabelle Allende; but restrained by the realities of this world.” Bookreporter.com

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