Tomorrow Bookstore Presents: Author Talk with Kaveh Akbar

Join Tomorrow Bookstore for an evening with Kaveh Akbar, poet and author of "Martyr!", in conversation with Professor Aila Hoss. The conversation will be hosted in the Indiana Landmarks' Grand Hall in partnership with Indiana Humanities and Butler MFA.

Tickets are free but we encourage a $10 donation per attendee or the purchase of a copy of the author's book from Tomorrow Bookstore. This helps us to continue bringing you great literary programming while making sure authors are paid and independent bookstores are sustainable.

Kaveh Akbar: Kaveh Akbar's poems appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf 2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James 2017), in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry 2016). He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine (Penguin Classics 2022). Martyr! (Knopf, 2024), Kaveh’s first novel, was a New York Times Bestseller, the 2024 recipient of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize for Fiction, a 2024 Discover Prize Finalist, and a 2024 National Book Award Finalist.

In 2020 Kaveh was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. The recipient of honors including multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. In 2014, Kaveh founded Divedapper, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in American poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he wrote a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX."

Professor Aila Hoss is an attorney, professor, and writer. She teaches, researches, and advocates at the intersection of health law and federal Indian law. Her creative writing explores issues regarding law and academia. She completed her BA at Emory University and her JD at the University of Oregon. She is an active member of the Indiana bar and proud Iranian-American.

Thanks to our event partners:

Indiana Humanities is a statewide nonprofit that infuses the humanities into our daily lives. They do this by providing grants, convening discussions, uplifting humanities scholars, spotlighting humanities organizations and activities, and creating their own programs that help Hoosiers think, read and talk. Learn more at www.indianahumanities.org.

The Butler MFA is a 36-hour graduate program in creative writing. In addition to building a foundation through graduate workshops in a chosen track of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, students have the opportunity to choose from in-depth elective courses, such as screenwriting, young adult fiction, literary editing, publishing, and teaching creative writing. Many graduates say they never want to leave the program, noting our emphasis on community over competition. More information can be found at www.butler.edu/mfa

Additional thanks to:

• Indiana Landmarks (venue)
• Bluebeard Restaurant
• Parker McCullough (designer)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Indiana Landmarks, 1201 Central Avenue, Indianapolis, United States