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Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar — book cover

Martyr!

by Kaveh Akbar

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction · 2025 · ShortlistNational Book Award for Fiction · 2024 · Winner
Knopfliterary-fictionISBN 9780593537589

Award History

About This Book

Cyrus Shams is a young Iranian-American poet and recovering addict obsessed with martyrs—people who died for a cause, or simply died, like his mother who was killed when the US shot down an Iranian civilian plane. A dazzling debut novel from the acclaimed poet about art, grief, addiction, and the search for meaning.

About the Author

Kaveh AkbarIranian-American

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet and novelist born in Tehran in 1989 and raised in the United States. He is one of the most celebrated poets of his generation and the author of two poetry collections, Calling a Wolf a Wolf (2017) and Pilgrim Bell (2021), as well as the novel Martyr! (2024). Read more →

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