Teton County Library Events

Page to the Podium & An Intimate Chat with Azar Nafisi

March 24, 2010

Location: Center for the Arts

Page to the Podium: Azar Nafisi.
Get on the wait list…good chance you’ll get tickets!
Read the details below.

An Intimate Chat with Azar Nafisi at Four Seasons Resort on March 25.
Purchase Tickets Online: $128.75.
Tickets are also available at the library’s Front Desk.

Jackson, WY- For Azar Nafisi, the Iranian-born author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran” and her most recent “Things I Have Been Silent About,” literature is not simply entertainment. Whether it has served as a revolutionary stand against an oppressive political regime or a life-sustaining ritual that helped her navigate a tumultuous childhood, literature, for Nafisi, is essential.

Meet Azar Nafisi and listen to her stories first-hand when Teton County Library Foundation presents Page to the Podium: Azar Nafisi on Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. at The Center for the Arts, Center Theater.

Free tickets are required for Page to the Podium and although all tickets have been claimed, a wait list is available. Historically, everyone who has put their name on a wait list has received a returned ticket. You may call 307-733-2164 and press “6” to reach the library Front Desk and ask to have your name added to the wait list.

In addition, patrons can support the Library Foundation by purchasing tickets to attend An Intimate Chat with Azar Nafisi on Thursday, March 25 from 5-7 p.m. at Four Seasons Resort. Drinks will be served from 5-6 p.m., followed by an interview with Nafisi by engaging bibliophile Cindee George and an audience Q&A. Cost is $125 per ticket, with proceeds benefiting Teton County Library Foundation. Tickets may be purchased at Teton County Library’s Front Desk or online at www.TCLib.org/azar.

“One of the most fascinating things about Azar is that her work shows how literature connects us, while building independence. She asks what’s most important for us to have in common as a community, while showing us how literature can be the seed for discussions where individual voices and opinions can and should be heard,” said Pauline Towers-Dykeman, Associate Foundation Director, who has organized Nafisi’s visit.

Nafisi is best known as the author of the national bestseller “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books,” which electrified its readers with a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. Earning high acclaim and an enthusiastic readership, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” is an incisive exploration of the transformative powers of fiction in a world of tyranny. The book has spent more than 117 weeks on the “New York Times” bestseller list. It has been translated into 32 languages, and has won diverse and numerous literary awards.

Nafisi’s new book, “Things I Have Been Silent About,” a memoir about her mother, was published in January 2009 and will be released in paperback this month. She is currently working on a book entitled “Republic of the Imagination,” which is about the power of literature to liberate minds and peoples.

Azar Nafisi is a Visiting Professor and the executive director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where she is a professor of aesthetics, culture, and literature, and teaches courses on the relation between culture and politics. For more about the author’s extensive academic, writing and political background, visit www.AzarNafisi.com.

A number of library events, including two book discussions, lead up to Nafisi’s presentation and provide opportunities to explore topics related to Iran. All events are free and open, thanks to donations large and small, to Teton County Library Foundation.

Robert Dreyfuss: Iran Uncovered
12 March, Friday, 7-8 p.m., Ordway Auditorium
Join investigative reporter Robert Dreyfuss for an eyewitness account of the Iran election and its aftermath and to hear about interviews he conducted with key Iranian decision-makers and analysts. He’ll discuss: Does Washington have an alternative to negotiations? Will sanctions work? Is a military confrontation inevitable? http://www.RobertDreyfuss.com

Library Book Club: “Reading Lolita in Tehran”
22 March, Monday, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Library Study Room
Join the library to discuss “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” by Iranian-born author and professor, Azar Nafisi. No registration necessary.

Great Decisions: The Persian Gulf
22 March, Monday, 6-7 p.m., Ordway Auditorium
Monday is foreign policy night at the library! Tonight’s video & discussion: Now more than ever, the Persian Gulf region offers many difficult challenges to U.S. policymakers. How will Obama’s direct appeal to Arabs and Muslims impact U.S. foreign policy in the region? What will the fallout of withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq be? Can the U.S. and its allies prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons? No registration necessary.

“Persepolis” Book Discussion
22 March, Monday, 6-7 p.m., Storytime Room
Originally published to wide critical acclaim in France, Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Tehran. Participants meet on to discuss this provocative and eye-opening graphic novel. To register, email .

Book Display: Azar Nafisi Read-a-Likes
Excited about Azar Nafisi’s upcoming talk? Come check out the monthly book display to see Nafisi’s books, read-a-likes and related topics. Located in the Library’s Main Room.

For more information on Nafisi’s Page to the Podium presentations, please contact Library Foundation Associate Director, Pauline Towers-Dykeman at 733-2164 ext. 217.

Page to the Podium is generously sponsored by Four Seasons Resort, Mary K. Weiss Foundation, First Interstate Bank, Jackson Hole Jewish Community, The Robert S. and Grayce B. Kerr Foundation, Carter Gray, Margot Snowdon & Yves DesGouttes.

An Intimate Chat with Azar Nafisi is graciously underwritten by Margot Snowdon & Yves DesGouttes, Jenny Mayfield & Michael Rubenstein.

For more information about events leading up to Nafisi’s visit, contact Adult Humanities Coordinator Oona Doherty at 733-2164 ext. 135.