A manuscript finds another country

The writer and the publishing route

Katouzian’s cultural report asks how Iranian fiction is being published outside the country. Abbas Maroufi describes receiving manuscripts from writers living in Iranian cities as well as from writers who have left. He argues that a book’s enforced departure can make even an author who remains at home experience a form of exile. Source 1

Maroufi names Rabihavi’s Boys of Love as a novel that could not be printed in Iran. His admiration for the book belongs to his own account as a writer and publisher. The passage sits beside examples by Jamshid Malekpour and Payam Feili, within a wider discussion of publishing channels and censorship. Source 1

Reading the testimony

The report follows the practical distance between finishing a manuscript, submitting it and finding a reader. It is useful context for the novel’s overseas publication history. Maroufi’s account of his publishing activity does not establish a new edition date for every title he mentions. Source 1

Sources & credits

1. Radio Farda · publishing beyond censorship

   Amir Mosaddegh Katouzian’s report and conversation with Abbas Maroufi, 25 October 2011. Publisher remarks are attributed testimony.