IN THE ROSE GARDEN OF THE MARTYRS: A MEMOIR OF IRAN
Talk / Book Launch / Reception

Venue:
Daunt Books, 83-84 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QW.

Date and time:
14 September 2004
Talk 6.30pm
Reception 7.00pm – 8.30pm.

Organised by:
The Iran Heritage Foundation and Harper Collins Publishers
in association with
Daunt Bookshop.

Introduction:
Having won the confidence of many ordinary Iranians, Christopher de Bellaigue has been able to construct a people's history of revolutionary Iran, a thread of memories that describe tumultuous events and their sometimes unforeseen effects. Many of de Bellaigue's interlocutors were staunch revolutionaries. They ejected the Shah, waged a bloody, eight-year war against Saddam's Iraq and astonished the world with their fearlessness and commitment. But today's Iran is a far cry from the just realm that they hoped to create; all have confronted disappointment and disillusion. Amid history and reportage, the author weaves his own experiences in Iran - as an insider who is married to an Iranian and speaks fluent Persian, and also as an outsider, a European trying to make sense of one of the world's most sophisticated and enigmatic societies.

Christopher de Bellaigue was born in London in 1971 and read Persian and Indian Studies at Cambridge University. He has spent the past decade living and working in the Middle East and South Asia. He writes for the Economist, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Granta and the New Yorker. He lives in Tehran with his wife and son.

This event starts with a talk by Christopher de Ballaigue on his book and about the aspirations and frustrations of the Iranian people, 25 years after the revolution.  The talk will be followed by a reception which will celebrate the launch of In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran.

Enquiries and RSVP:
Sarah Peterkin, 020 83074948, sarah.peterkin@harpercollins.co.uk.