Tehran Diaries
about the bookabout
In Iran’s capital city, the shops of the bazaar are shuttered, the streets quiet with fear. The internet isn’t working, conversations are confused and urgent, fraught with anxious expectation. Soon the US-Israeli bombardment will begin and the rain will turn black with fuel, burning the lungs and skin.
In this searing and contemplative work, writer, academic and Tehran resident Raha Nik-Andish documents life in the Islamic Republic during the days and months leading up to "Operation Epic Fury." In a rarely-seen portrait of a society in freefall, this is Tehran on the brink; the protests over the collapse of the currency crushed; the taxicabs circling the city searching for passengers and meagre fares; the burned-out garbage cans and the taped-up windows.
What does it mean to exist under siege? How does one negotiate a blackout when trapped between devastation from the sky and repression on the street? How to know what’s happening? How to get the message out? Piercing, poignant and delicately observed, this is the vital story of a city at the end of the world - and an act of witness against darkness.
About The Author / Editor
Raha Nik-Andish is the pen name for a writer, translator and art historian who lives in Tehran. He has written features and essays for the London Review of Books and the Markaz Review. Tehran Diaries is his first book.
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Tehran Diaries
about the bookabout
In Iran’s capital city, the shops of the bazaar are shuttered, the streets quiet with fear. The internet isn’t working, conversations are confused and urgent, fraught with anxious expectation. Soon the US-Israeli bombardment will begin and the rain will turn black with fuel, burning the lungs and skin.
In this searing and contemplative work, writer, academic and Tehran resident Raha Nik-Andish documents life in the Islamic Republic during the days and months leading up to "Operation Epic Fury." In a rarely-seen portrait of a society in freefall, this is Tehran on the brink; the protests over the collapse of the currency crushed; the taxicabs circling the city searching for passengers and meagre fares; the burned-out garbage cans and the taped-up windows.
What does it mean to exist under siege? How does one negotiate a blackout when trapped between devastation from the sky and repression on the street? How to know what’s happening? How to get the message out? Piercing, poignant and delicately observed, this is the vital story of a city at the end of the world - and an act of witness against darkness.
About The Author / Editor
Raha Nik-Andish is the pen name for a writer, translator and art historian who lives in Tehran. He has written features and essays for the London Review of Books and the Markaz Review. Tehran Diaries is his first book.
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