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Strange Times: An Event in Celebration of Iranian Literature
PEN USA Celebrates the Publication of Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature
Saturday, September 10 @ 7:30 p.m.
Levantine Cultural Center
5920 Blackwelder Street
Culver City, CA 90232
Free admission
Info: PEN USA (310) 862-1555 ext. 358
PEN USA, The Levantine Cultural Center, UCLA, and The Performance Loft will sponsor Strange Times: An Event in Celebration of Iranian Literature to celebrate the translation and publication of Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature.
Actor and comedian Maz Jobrani will host “Strange Times Live” featuring a musical performance by vocal artist Ziba Shirazi. The evening will also include readings from Strange Times, My Dear by the book’s co-editor Nahid Mozaffari; co-editor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak; publisher Dick Seaver; poet Majid Nafici; poet Abbas Saffari; and translator Sholeh Wolpe. Sheema Kalbasi and Persis Kari will also read selections. The book will be sold at the event and the participating contributors will be available to sign copies.
In the wake of attacks on the United States, editing or publishing works by authors from embargoed countries, specifically Cuba, Sudan and Iran, was made punishable with a fine of one million dollars and up to ten years in prison. PEN American Center, Arcade publishing and several other organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. government asking for an immediate injunction against enforcement of these regulations. As a result a “general license” was issued by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) allowing Arcade Publishing to publish Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature.
Host Maz Jobrani is the consummate performer, both stand-up comedian and dramatic actor. Maz was “Mr. Hut” on the Fox sitcom “Life on a Stick.” He played Secret Service agent “Mo” in “The Interpreter,” the 2005 Sydney Pollack film starring Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman. He is best known for his role as “Moly” in Ice Cube’s “Friday After Next.” He has also guest starred as “The Sikh” on the season finale of last year’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” along with several other guest appearances. Maz has done standup comedy on Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and CBS’s “Late Late Show,” and performs standup comedy regularly at the Comedy Store and The Laugh Factory on Sunset. He also tours nationally. Angelenos recently saw him at the Mark Taper performing in Tony Kushner’s “Homebody Kabul.” Visit http://www.mazjobrani.com/
Ziba Shirazi, the Iranian Joni Mitchell, left Iran and moved to Los Angeles in 1986. She longed to be free, she says, to write poignant lyrics; she yearned to sing and compose without being hindered by suffocating cultural intolerance. Though she is from the ancient land called Persia and the language and the culture of that 5,000-year-old civilization are, she says, “in every cell of my body"—the wondrous, troubling, miraculous thing is that jazz, literature and social equality are also within her molecules. The songs of Ziba Shirazi whether joyous or pensive, whether predominately jazz, blues, or Iranian folk in flavor are never simply nostalgic, never backward looking, always open ended, always with a hint of the future. Visit http://www.zibashirazi.com/
I live in Culver City, but I don’t know where Blackwelder St. is. I would like go to Sat.’s event.
please send directions
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