Episode 5: Immortals of Tehran

FEBRUARY, 6 2023

In this episode, we start by discussing his journey to becoming a writer and the challenges he faced along the way. Then, we shift to his novel; and go over his choice of the core idea, metaphors, and genre of the book. And also the challenges he faced writing an English novel. In the final section of our talk, we ask Alireza about his Ph.D. research. Alireza talks about gathering data and building a database of works of Persian Literature that have been translated into English. We discuss the significance of this research and what Ali hopes to achieve through his studies. We also learn about his plans for the future and what inspires him to write. And finally, as customary in our talks, we asked Alireza about his future career.

Our guest, Alireza Araghi, is a Ph.D. Candidate in the field of Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a Master's in Ancient Languages and Linguistics from the University of Tehran, Iran. He started his career by translating some English authors to Farsi and some Persian works to English later. In 2020, he published his novel "Immortals in Tehran"; now, he is working on his second novel, which will be released soon.

Amirali Shams received his Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo in the field of materials science in Dec. 2021. His passion and interest in Iranian studies made him keen to become a part of the Fly-Bottle community since its foundation in early 2020. Currently, he is working as a materials R&D engineer while collaborating with the Fly-Bottle organization. 

Music: Reza Nadri

Intro: Ata Heshmati

Producer & Narrator: Shahryar Asqardoust