Award-Winning Author Kaveh Akbar Visits Purchase College

By Sydney Carver

Anthony Domestico, associate professor of literature, speaks with Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author, at the Durst Humanities Theatre. (Photo by Sydney Carver)

For Kaveh Akbar, a poet and novelist who is constantly exploring the boundaries of language, writing is not just simply a way to communicate. It is a way to approach the things that words fail to explain.

Akbar, the author of the bestselling novel “Martyr!” (2024), joined Associate Professor of Literature Anthony Domestico at Purchase College’s Durst Humanities Theatre on Oct. 13 in a conversation about poetry, spirituality and the creative process behind novels like “Martyr!” The event, part of the college’s Durst Distinguished Lecturer program, brought in students, Purchase faculty and community members to hear Akbar discuss his work.

The discussion began with a reading from the opening pages of “Martyr!”, which follows Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American man dealing with grief and the search for meaning. Akbar mentioned the earlier years he spent developing the novel, explaining how it reached full fruition. He also talked about the ways in which he recognized aspects of himself in Cyrus, including qualities he described as “snotty.”

Throughout the conversation, Akbar returned to the limitations of language and the difficulty, as a writer, of fully understanding someone else’s experience. “I can’t experience other minds like I experience my own,” he said.

For students like Jordon Dixon, a literature minor at Purchase, Akbar’s viewpoint on language particularly stood out.

“I thought Kaveh Akbar was really awesome. I thought he had some really great things to say,” Dixon said. “A lot of times we think about what language can do, and that's the discussion, but I was so interested in his take on what language can't do.”

Akbar also explored the relationship between poetry and spirituality, describing poetry as the midpoint between prayer and meditation. He explained that he continued to consider himself a poet regardless of the job he held, emphasizing that his connection to poetry came from a personal love for the art.

“I love poetry not like a vegetable I think everyone should be eating,” Akbar said. “But I love it because I love it.”

The exchange also explored how Akbar’s background in poetry influences his approach to fiction. Although “Martyr!” contains poetic elements, Akbar said that no editor had described it to him as a poet’s novel. Domestico offered a different interpretation: “It is a poet’s novel because there are poems in it.”

For Monica Ferrell, a professor of creative writing at Purchase, the event highlighted the value of bringing established writers and thinkers to campus.

“I think we are really lucky to have the Durst program,” Ferrell said. “In recent years we have had Nobel Prize winners and National Book Award recipients.”

Monica Ferrell, professor of creative writing at Purchase College, poses for a photo after the event. (Photo by Sydney Carver)

Mariel Rodney, chair of the English Department and associate professor of literature, said the program allows students and faculty alike to encounter ideas that intertwine academic disciplines. Akbar’s conversation with Domestico traveled between painting, literature, poetry and the experiences of grief, joy and love.

Rodney said the range of subjects is part of what makes the Durst events significant, bringing together people from different majors and backgrounds.

“Each semester we get different artists, historians, writers, thinkers,” Rodney said.

Students also reflected on the impact of getting to hear writers discuss their work in an in- person setting. Julie Abrams, a freshman arts management major, said Akbar’s speaking style reflected the qualities she enjoyed in his writing.

“He was definitely one of the most interesting ones,” Abrams said. “He was very engaging and personable.”

Julie Abrams holds a copy of “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar. (Photo by Sydney Carver)

Abrams noted that she appreciated how Akbar’s talent came through in both his writing and his speech, noting that an author’s spoken words do not always reflect the same acumen of language found in the novel.

The event concluded with a couple of questions from the audience, mentioning sonnets and Akbar’s poetry interview website, Divedapper.

For Dixon, attending events through the Durst Distinguished Lecturer series has become an important part of his journey as a writer.

“I think Purchase students need to come to these events more because I become a better writer every time I go to one,” Dixon said.

Literature minor Jordon Dixon gives a thumbs-up outside the Humanities Theatre. (Photo by Sydney Carver)

Akbar offered a final thought on what it means for an audience to spend time listening to a writer.

“Time is our most non-replenishable resource,” Akbar said. “The idea that people are coming out and spending an hour listening to me talk about writing, that people are waiting in a line to talk to me for even more time than that, is the most profound gift that I could be given. A person can’t make more time. It is indescribable the magnitude of that gift. I am on my heels.”