Non-Fiction Books Basel

Ask the media and you'll find Iranians dubbed nuclear-wannabes, revolutionaries, fanatics and poets, but how do they describe themselves? In the heady days of a social media free Internet, Iranians took to the blogosphere in their thousands, side stepping prying mullahs to air their views not only on politics and protest, but David Beckham, Valentine's Day and their daughter's belly button piercing. By 2004 there were over 64,000 Farsi blogs, far surpassing the number in German, Spanish and Russian; here Nasrin Alavi collates the juiciest tidbits.

Weaving translated blog entries with comment and critique, We are Iran's thematic chapters trace the country's history from the 1953- CIA backed coup and Iranian Revolution to the 9/11 aftermath and capture of Saddam Hussein. With unfiltered honesty and unimaginable wit in the face of adversity we're introduced to the characters behind the headlines: Khanoomigoli calculated the perfect outfit combo for optimising male attention, Daftaresepid's toddler tantrum almost got his father hanged and Golnaz discussed cats and sunflowers with her aunt on death row.

Join us for an informal critique of the book, covering what you liked, didn't and why, followed by a more general discussion of Iran, your perceptions and its future.

Don't worry if you didn't finish the book, you're still welcome to attend, just check out the TLDR options below:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/10/highereducation.news1