KAVEH AKBAR
Writer
Though the writer has been called “poetry’s biggest cheerleader,” it was his debut novel, last year’s "Martyr!," about a poet struggling to find purpose, that made him a literary world darling.
WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT? When I die, I won’t be able to read everyone’s new books.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE GET WRONG ABOUT YOU? The “eh” in “Kaveh” sounds like the “e” in the word “red.”
“At parties, I ask “What do you love?” instead of “What do you do?'””
WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? I was reading Heather Christle’s The Difficult Farm in the days before I got sober, and during the early weeks of sobriety I clung to it like the skull of a saint. I probably read it cover to cover a hundred times.
WHAT’S YOUR TRADEMARK? At parties, I ask “What do you love?” instead of “What do you do?” I recommend it! If you ask “What do you do?” people just tell you what they do for money, which is often the thing about which they’re least enthusiastic.
in your life?
