I Will Greet the Sun Again - Paperback

by Khashayar J. Khabushani (Author)

"[A] masterful debut . . . a novel of survival and longing and love, and in many ways a modern portrait of an artist as a young man . . . a book written for us, we Iranian Americans whom you don't often hear about."--Porochista Khakpour, The Washington Post (Best Books of the Year)

"A triumph . . . a book of astonishing accomplishment and bravery."--Dina Nayeri, The Guardian

Winner of the Alex Award from the American Library Association - Finalist for the California Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award - Shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

An Amerie's Book Club Pick - A Phenomenal Book Club Pick

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley with his two brothers, all K wants is to be "a boy from L.A.," all American. But K--the youngest, named after a Persian king--knows there's something different about himself. Like the way he feels about his closest friend, Johnny, a longing that he can't share with anyone.

At home, K must navigate another confusing identity: that of the dutiful son of Iranian immigrants struggling to make a life for themselves in the United States. He tries to make his mother proud, live up to her ideal of a son. On Friday nights, K attends prayers at the local mosque with Baba, whose violent affections distort K's understanding of what it means to be a man and how to love.

When Baba takes the three brothers from their mother back to Iran, K finds himself in an ancestral home he barely knows. Returning to the Valley months later, K must piece together who he is, in a world that now feels as foreign to him as the one he left behind.

A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family--and the stories that make us who we are.

Author Biography

Khashayar J. Khabushani was born in Van Nuys, California, in 1992. During his childhood he spent time in Iran before returning to Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at California State University, Northridge, and prior to completing his MFA at Columbia University he worked as a middle school teacher. This is his first novel.