Episode #15
Marjan Kamali: The Lion Women of Tehran & the Scripts We Inherit
New York Times bestselling author Marjan Kamali joins Kira and me for a conversation that starts with her novel, The Lion Women of Tehran, and very quickly becomes about so much more. If you’ve listened to our book club episodes before, you might remember Kira bringing this book up during our very first one- and after finally reading it myself, I immediately understood why. At its heart, The Lion Women of Tehran is a story about friendship, but underneath that story are all of these currents about identity, culture, family, the things we internalize about ourselves, and the scripts we’re handed before we’re ever old enough to question them. And THAT is where this conversation goes. Marjan talks about growing up across seven countries and how that shaped the way she sees humanity; the Iranian women who inspired Homa; what historical fiction can give us that a textbook sometimes can’t; and the strange, wonderful ability stories have to make someone thousands of miles away recognize themselves in a life that looks nothing like their own. We also get into the relationship between fiction and healing, the closure we sometimes get through stories that we never get in real life, and the details readers pick up on in The Lion Women of Tehran. But my favorite part may be where we eventually land: on the scripts Marjan herself was handed, the ones she’s spent her life refusing, and a perspective I somehow hadn’t explored yet on a podcast literally called Refuse to Subscribe… Sometimes we had a reason for following the script. Sometimes it was survival. And that doesn’t mean it’s too late to change it. This is such a beautiful conversation about books, friendship, Iran, identity, art, humanity, and giving ourselves a little more grace as we figure out who the hell we actually want to be. SPOILER WARNING: We absolutely get into the details of The Lion Women of Tehran, so if you haven’t read it yet, go grab yourself a copy from a local bookstore and then come back! Also discussed: The Stationery Shop and Together Tea. Marjan Kamali: Instagram: @marjankamali7 https://marjankamali.com Jonny: Instagram: @jonnythyne Come on the show: https://jonnythyne.com/reflect Kira: Instagram: @kiraleclair
