Laurie Martel

Iranian-American poet and writer Kaveh Akbar’s novel Martyr! came out in January 2024 and upon its release, it almost immediately became a best seller, for good reasons. The book explores the main character’s struggles with addiction, with his multicultural identity as a second generation immigrant and with his grief after losing both of his parents. This novel, which also contains some of Akbar’s renowned poetry, is so appreciated mainly because of its emotional appeal. In this book, the character’s emotions arguably matter more than the storyline and it is a sort of psychological exploration of its characters. While the point…