Persian-Canadian poet Sareh Farmand explores topics of freedom and home in Iranian Poetry and Art in Canada, December 15
The Tehran-born author of Pistachios in my Pocket joins the book’s illustrator, Nazli Ataeeyeh, for a free discussion at West Vancouver Memorial Library
Sareh Farmand. Photo by Kyrani Kanavaros
West Vancouver Memorial Library presents Iranian Poetry and Art in Canada with Sareh Farmand and Nazli Ataeeyeh hosted by Margaret Gallagher on December 15 from 6 to 7:30 pm
“WHERE ARE YOU FROM?” is a complicated question for Sareh Farmand. She was born in Tehran in 1978, at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution. She was just three years old when her family fled, first to Berlin then to Rome and ultimately to Vancouver. Through that experience, Farmand became intimately familiar with uncertainty, fear, loss, loneliness, identity, hope, freedom, the power of human connection, the importance of culture, and the meaning of “home”.
These are some of the themes Farmand explores in her affecting new poetry collection, Pistachios in my Pocket (At Bay Press). Illustrated by Iranian-Canadian visual artist Nazli Ataeeyeh, the book follows a narrative arc of Farmand’s family’s journey from her homeland to the Pacific Northwest as first-wave Iranian landed immigrants.
Featured on the Amazon Bestseller List for Middle Eastern Poetry and Family Poetry as well as the All Lit Up top 10 Muslim-Canadian Reads list, Pistachios in my Pocket was written before the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s “Morality Police” and is especially timely now with the female-led revolution unfolding. Farmand and Ataeeyeh will explore the movement for peace and freedom at the upcoming event titled Iranian Poetry and Art in Canada, hosted by CBC Radio’s Margaret Gallagher. They will also discuss themes of multiculturalism, belonging, global citizenship, and what it means to be Canadian.
Farmand, who is married with two sons, holds degrees in international relations and education from UBC and is a 2018 graduate of SFU’s Writing Studio. Ataeeyeh was born during the Iran-Iraq War and lived through the oppression of the Islamic dictatorship, completing her master’s degree of fine arts in 2011. Two years later, following the violent suppression of youth during the Green Revolution in Iran, she immigrated to Canada, landing in Toronto. An art educator, Ataeeyeh lives in Vancouver with her life partner and child.
For more information, see Pistachios in my Pocket.
Nazli Ataeeyeh. Photo by Negin Ataeeyeh.
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