Kira Van Deusen

Writer, oral storyteller, cellist, and Farsi-speaker, Kira Van Deusen mixes a love of music with a passion for language and research to create enchanting, human stories. She has published several nonfiction books about storytelling in Siberia and the Canadian north. Faraj: A Space of Possibility is her first book of fiction, inspired by a story she heard in Iran. Kira lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Visit her website at www.kiravan.com.“In the manner of medieval tales from the Middle East, this heart-warming romance is filled with adventure and words of wisdom. The story smoothly and unconsciously takes the reader into the exotic and unfamiliar land of Safavid Iran. This happens at a time of immense cultural and religious change, when religion not only mattered but also dictated life. Romance between a Muslim woman and a Zoroastrian man was strictly forbidden. In our own time of uncertainty, radicalism and abundance of violent dogmas, this tender tale is a fresh start into a better understanding of the hearts and minds of the the story’s land and people.” Massoume Price, social anthropologist and author of numerous books on Iranian culture.