It Takes Courage To Die For A

If I Turned Towards Books, It Was Because They Were The Only Sanctuary I Knew, One I Needed In Order To Survive, To Protect Some Aspect Of Myself That Was Now In Constant Retreat.

Only Curiosity About The Fate Of Others, The Ability To Put Ourselves In Their Shoes, And The Will To Enter Their World Through The Magic Of Imagination, Creates This Shock Of Recognition. Without This Empathy There Can Be No Genuine Dialogue, And We As Individuals And Nations Will Remain Isolated And Alien, Segregated And Fragmented.

When I First Left Iran At The Age Of 13, Iran Had Become Such A Shining Star - It Was The Point To Which All My Desires And Dreams Returned.

After The Rigged Iranian Presidential Elections In 2009, The Islamic Regime Attacked The 'humanities' As The Main Source Of Protests, The Most Effective Tool Used By The West, Especially America, To Corrupt And Incite Iranian Youth, And Finally Closed Down All The Humanities Departments In Iran's Universities.

In All Great Works Of Fiction, Regardless Of The Grim Reality They Present, There Is An Affirmation Of Life Against The Transience Of That Life, An Essential Defiance. This Affirmation Lies In The Way The Author Takes Control Of Reality By Retelling It In His Own Way, Thus Creating A New World. Every Great Work Of Art, I Would Declare Pompously, Is A Celebration, An Act Of Insubordination Against The Betrayals, Horrors And Infidelities Of Life. The Perfection And Beauty Of Form Rebels Against The Ugliness And Shabbiness Of The Subject Matter.