SONG of a CAPTIVE BIRD - Random House...Forugh. We call her by a single name. Generations of...

JASMIN-DARZNIK.COM

Song of a Captive Bird is inspired by the life of Forugh Farrokhzad,

a rebel poet who defi ed Iranian society to fi nd her voice, and who

continues to inspire generations of women around the world. She

is the feminist hero you may not have heard of before, but will

now never forget.

“By writing in a woman's voice I wanted to say that a woman, too,

is a human being. To say that we, too, have the rights to breathe, to cry out, and to sing.”

—Forugh Farrokhzad, Song of a Captive Bird

SONG of a CAPTIVE BIRDa novel by JASMIN DARZNIK

B O O K C L U B K I T

A N OT E F RO M T H E E D I TO R

BOOK CLU B K IT

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SONG of a CAPTIVE BIRD

Forugh. We call her by a single name. Generations of Iranians and poets have known the life and work of the poet Forugh Farrokhzad since her death in the 1960s, yet her name is not instantly familiar to most American readers. However, after immersing myself in Song of a Captive Bird, Jasmin Darznik’s richly-imagined account of Forugh’s life, I feel as though I know not only her name, but her heart and passion as well. Now, I count Forugh among my feminist heroes.

Author Jasmin Darznik had studied Forugh’s poetry when she was in college and the work was a revelation to her—visually rich and raw, fi erce and provocative. But Jasmin knew the landscape of Forugh’s childhood—her mother had also lived in Iran in the 1940s and 50s—and she couldn’t help but wonder: how was Forugh able to write these poem during this time? That question drove her to write Song of a Captive Bird. Jasmin used fi ction to create the emotional life of the young woman whose brave choices resulted in the exquisite poetry that meant so much to so many.

I doubt Forugh could have imagined that her legacy would have been so impactful—so revered and widespread. During her rather short lifetime, she battled her family, society, her fellow artists—and even her lover—to be heard and accepted. We’ll never know if she ever felt her own success. But what we have left of her are her words and her story, beautifully rendered by novelist Jasmin Darznik. With them comes my deepest hope that this novel will introduce readers to Jasmin’s elegant prose—and also know the life and work of Forugh. Our Forugh.

Andra MillerExecutive Editor • Ballantine Books

Andra Miller

D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S

B O O K C LU B K I T

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1. Is Forugh the only “captive bird” of the book’s title? Which other characters, both female and male, are trapped by circumstances and how do they cope with their captivity? Do you think some fi nd comfort in captivity?

2. Motherhood fi gures prominently in the novel. Do you think Forugh would have eventually adapted herself to motherhood had she stayed? What do you think made her feel inadequate asa mother?

3. Do you think Forugh could have found similar success as a poet had she remained in her marriage? Do you think the poetry itself would have been different had she stayed with her husband?

4. In the early days of her publication, Forugh found an audience among the literati of Tehran, yet she still faced prejudice. Which traditions and taboos continued within this ostensibly progressive group?

5. Forugh’s fi rst published poem was titled “Sin.” Do youthink she really felt like she had sinned? Did she understand the consequences of her romantic liaison at the time, or was she just an impetuous young girl following her heart, throw-ing caution to the wind?

6. Consider the poems that appear in the novel. Were there particular poems you found meaningful? How so?

7. Throughout the novel The Colonel exerts tremendous power over Forugh. Does he exert a positive infl uence over his daughter as well as a negative one?

8. Did you fi nd the character of Forugh’s mother to be sympathetic? Why or why not?

D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S


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9. Leila’s wealth and privilege allowed her to live beyond the confi nes many women of lesser means faced at the time. Sheused her power for good in rescuing and supporting Forugh, but do you think Leila would have been the same person had she been poor or bound to a husband she didn’t love?

10. Forugh’s relationship with Darius is complicated and tempestuous. Do you feel their union ultimately freed herfrom the constraints of her life or drove her deeper into them?

11. Towards the end of the novel Darznik writes, “Art could survive; even when suppressed, even when outlawed, it could survive far worse fates than fi re.” How do you interpret these words?

12. Many Iranian writers and artists have chosen to go into exile since the 1979 Revolution. Why do you think Forugh stayed in Iran even as the political and social climate grew increasingly hostile? Do you think she would have stayed in the country if she’d lived long enough to experience the revolution? If so, would you agree with that choice?

13. Did the novel contribute to your understanding of Iranian history or culture? Were there things that surprised you in Darznik’s rendering of Iran?

14. Many of the themes explored in Song of a Captive Bird—women’s rights, political resistance, freedom of expression—arise out of the particular setting of the novel: Iran before the 1979 Revolution. How are those themes relevant to current events today?

15. In her Author’s Note, Darznik reveals that in writing Song of a Captive Bird she “embraced the unique power of fi ction to illuminate the past.” How do you feel about fi ction, versus traditional biography, as a means to tell the story of a life?

H I S TO R I C A L I M AG E S


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Forugh as a young woman.

Forugh as a young girl. Colonel Farrokhzad and family.

Forugh driving with a friend.

Photos: sinarium.com/forugh-farrokhzad and @Forugh.Farrokhzad.poet

H I S TO R I C A L I M AG E S


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Forugh with her son and husband, Parviz.

Forugh in the countryside.

Forugh Farrokhzad, poet and fi lmmaker.

Photos: sinarium.com/forugh-farrokhzad and @Forugh.Farrokhzad.poet

R EC I PE S I N S P I R E D BY T H E N OV E L


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CUCUMBER DILL YOGURTServes: 6

DIRECTIONS1. Place cucumbers in a clean dish

towel or paper towel and gently squeeze out any liquid.

2. Add yogurt to a small-medium mixing bowl and mix in thecucumbers and all the rest ofthe ingredients.

3. Serve as a side dish to your meal, use as a salad dressing, a dip, or a spread for sandwiches.

INGREDIENTS• 2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt• 2 Persian cucumbers, cut lengthwise into

fourths and minced• 2 tbsp (about 1 handful) minced fresh dill

with stems discarded, or 1 tbsp dry

• ¾ tsp salt• ½ tsp black pepper• ¾ tsp garlic powder

CREDIT: HOMEANDTASTY.COM

PERSIAN POMEGRANATE MOCKTAILServes: 2

DIRECTIONS1. Combine the pomegranate juice, ice

cubes, lime juice and orange blossom water in a blender and blend till smooth.

2. Continue to add ice and blend till the texture becomes slushy, similar to a margarita.

3. Add sweetener to taste and blend again. 4. Pour into chilled margarita glasses and serve.

CREDIT: TORIAVEY.COM

INGREDIENTS• 2 cups pomegranate juice• 2 cups ice cubes, or more if needed• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice • 1 tbsp orange blossom water• Sweetener to taste



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IRANIAN JEWELED RICE (Javaher Polo)Serves: 8

DIRECTIONS1. In a large container cover the rice with water, add 2

tablespoons of salt, and soak between 2 and 24 hours. Drain through a fi ne-mesh sieve and set aside. Set a small pot of water to boil.

2. Peel off thick strips of rind off the oranges. Slice these strips cross-wise into very small slivers. When the water is boiling, drop the slivers into the water and cook 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

3. In a mortar and pestle, crush the saff ron threads with a few pinches of sugar until a powder forms. Stir in 3 tablespoons of orange blossom water and set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and pistachios, sauté for about a minute, then add the raisins and toss with the nuts. Empty the mixture into a bowl and set aside.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons of the saff ron orange blossom water mixture, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in the same skillet. Add the carrots and orange peel and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the remaining sugar, the remaining saff ron orange blossom water mixture, the cinnamon stick and the cardamom and sauté for 1 minute. Add 1 cup water, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the carrots lightly caramelize and the liquid has reduced to a syrup. Drain the carrots and orange peel, and reserve the syrup.

6. In a large pot with a lid, bring 10 cups of water to a boil. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons salt, then add the rice to the pot with the remaining 1 tablespoon plain orange blossom water. Boil briskly until the rice has risen to the surface (rice feels soft when bitten), about 6–10 minutes. Drain the rice into a large fi ne-mesh sieve, rinse with cold water and transfer to a bowl.

7. Gently mix the remaining saff ron orange blossom water and the reserved carrot/orange syrup to the par-boiled rice. Take a large spoonful of rice at a time and gently spread it over the bottom of the pot. Give the pot a shake to even out the base. Add more spoonfuls of rice, one at a time, gradually shaping it into a pyramid.

8. Cook 20 minutes over low heat.

INGREDIENTS• 3 cups long-grain white basmati rice• 2 tbsp salt, divided• 2 large oranges• 1 cup whole or chopped unsweetened

dried cranberries • 1 tsp loosely-packed saff ron (about ½

gram) or ½ tsp ground turmeric• ⁄ cup granulated sugar, divided• ¼ cup orange blossom water, divided• 2 tbsp oil, butter, or ghee• ½ cup sliced raw almonds, toasted• ½ cup chopped raw pistachios, toasted• ½ cup raisins, golden or green• 2-3 large carrots, peeled and cut into

2-inch long matchsticks• 1 whole cinnamon stick (about 4

inches)

• 2 tsp freshly ground cardamom

CREDIT: THEKITCHN.COM



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PERSIAN CHICKEN SKEWERS (Joojeh Kabob)Serves: 3-4

DIRECTIONS1. Trim all the fat from chicken breasts and cut them into equal pieces

(1½ to 2 inches) and place them in a medium glass container.

2. Add the sliced onions, saff ron, salt, black pepper and lemon juice to the chicken and toss until the chicken pieces are uniformly coated with saff ron and yellow.

3. Add the olive oil to the dish and stir to combine.

4. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate 24-48 hours. Leave the marinated chicken out at room temperature for about 45 minutes before grilling.

5. Prepare the outdoor grill for high heat because the chicken kabob needs to cook fast otherwise it will dry out.

6. Skewer the chicken kabobs. Narrow metal skewers are traditionally used, but wooden skewers will also work. Skewer the tomatoes, onions and peppers separately, as the vegetables do not cook at the same rate. Before grilling, spray or brush the skewered vegetables with a light coating of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

7. Place two metal bars at top and bottom of the grill grate and rest the tip and handle of the skewers on the bars so the chicken and vegetables don't touch the grates.

8. If there is not enough space on the grill for all the skewers, grill the vegetables fi rst and keep them warm until you grill the chicken.

9. Grill the joojeh kabob over high heat. As soon as one side starts changing color the other sides should be grilled so the hot fi re seals in the juices. Then keep turning the skewers until golden brown on all sides and no longer pink inside. Check one piece of the joojeh kabob by cutting through it with a knife, if it is white and juicy it is ready. Remove the kabobs that are ready from fi re and keep them warm under aluminum foil and serve as soon as all are done grilling.

10. Enjoy the chicken kabobs and grilled vegetables over sangak (Persian fl at bread) or Persian rice. If you are serving the chicken kabobs with white rice, add a dab of soft ened butter on top and toss gently with a fork to coat the warm rice, and sprinkle it with sumac for the traditional style. Serve the kabobs with extra lemon/limewedges with a few wedges of fresh white or red onions.

INGREDIENTS• 4 boneless skinless chicken

breast halves

• 1 small onion, peeled and sliced

• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

• 1/8 tsp ground saff ron powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• ¼ tsp ground black pepper

• ¼ cup olive oil

• small tomatoes (whole)

• small onions cut in half

• sweet colorful mini pepper (whole)

• serrano pepper (optional)

• olive oil for brushing over the veggies

• sprinkle of salt and groundblack pepper

CREDIT: PERSIANMAMA.COM



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SAFFRON RICE PUDDING (Sholeh Zard)Serves: 4–6

DIRECTIONS1. Lightly crush the cardamom pods and place in rosewater.

Set aside.2. Wash rice until water runs clear, and then cook rice

uncovered until tender (about half an hour).3. Grind saff ron with a pinch of sugar. Add 3 tbsp of hot

water to the ground saff ron and shake well. Allow to brew while the rice cooks.

4. Add sugar to the rice and cook for another half hour until the water and rice become dense. Be sure to stir the rice every so oft en so that it does not stick to the bottom.

5. Add brewed saff ron to the rice and continue to cook for another half hour.

6. Add rose water with cardamom pods and sliced almonds. Mix well.

7. At this point, you can continue cooking the pudding on the stove top on low until it is completely dense, or place it in an oven-proof pot and put it in the oven. If you choose to leave it in the oven, set it to 350º and leave the pudding in there for 15 to 20 minutes.

8. Discard cardamom pods. 9. Transfer the pudding to small bowls or in one big shallow

oval or rectangular dish. If you wish, garnish with cinnamon and sliced pistachios.

10. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and place in the fridge for a few hours. Serve chilled.

INGREDIENTS• 1 cup rice• 9 cups water• 2 cups sugar• 1 tsp saff ron• 1 cup rosewater• 2 cardamom pods• ¼ cup sliced almonds• cinnamon and sliced

pistachios for garnishCREDIT: MYPERSIANKITCHEN.COM



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TRADITIONAL PERSIAN TEAServes: 5–6

CREDIT: PERSIANMAMA.COM

INGREDIENTS• 1- ½ tbsp loose tea leaves (English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey mix)

• 2 cups cold water (for steeping)

• 6-8 cups of cold water (for diluting)

DIRECTIONS1. Bring 2 cups of fresh cold water to a boil.2. Add 1-½ tablespoons of loose tea leaves to a teapot. Pour the hot

boiling water over the tea leaves. and cover the teapot, either with a lid or a folded napkin.

3. Steep the tea for 10-15 minutes, or until the desired color.4. Meanwhile, boil 6-8 cups of fresh cold water. 5. Using a strainer, pour about 2 ounces of the brewed tea into each tea

cup.6. Top off each tea cup with the boiled water, adusting the strength and

color to your taste.

A N OT E F RO M J A S M I N DA R Z N I K


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I n 1978 my family left Iran with two maroon leather suitcases. There’d

been trouble in Tehran for a while, but that year the trouble suddenly

got worse. We weren’t sure how long it would last, but for now it

seemed we should leave the country. There wasn’t much time to pack, much

less to plan. We fl ew to America, thinking we’d wait out the violence and

chaos back home. The next year there was a revolution in Iran. The two

maroon suitcases were unpacked and then cast off.

My family and I never returned to Iran, but some things survived our

exodus. Among the few cherished possessions my mother managed to bring

to America was a slender book of poems by Forugh Farrokhzad. Growing up,

I’d happen across the book every so often. I can still picture the bobbed-haired

woman with kohl-lined eyes on the cover. Who was she and why had she

followed us to America?

That image—its glamour, mystery, and modernity—rooted itself in my

imagination, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I began to read Forugh’s

poetry and that my fascination with her truly began. At UCLA, I had the

great fortune to study with the late Dr. Amin Banani, a scholar of Iranian

literature who’d been acquainted with the poet in the 1950s. No sooner had

I read “The Sin” than I was possessed by Forugh’s voice, its naturalness and

immediacy. I was also bowled over by Forugh’s audacity. This was a poem

about desire written from a woman’s point of view. Had Iranian women

really once sounded like that?

Brought up in Tehran during the 1940s and 1950s, Forugh Farrokhzad, or

“Forugh” as she became known, was the fi rst woman to transcend the label

of “poetess” without the support or patronage of a man, becoming a poet of

tremendous accomplishment. She was not yet twenty when she wrote “The

Sin,” a poem so candid and daring that its publication in 1955 made her the

most notorious woman in the country. Her fi ve books of poetry cemented

her reputation as a rebel. An exile in her own country, as a fi lmmaker, she

turned her lens on those banished to the fringes of society. Again and again,

she fl ung herself fearlessly into life, voicing passion and protest at a time when

many still believed women shouldn’t be heard from at all. She was simply too

creative, too gutsy, and too ambitious to be silenced by the constraints others

sought to place on her.

The risks she took cost her a great deal, but they also made her the art-

ist she became. Her poems still offer an extraordinary reading experience

more than half a century after they were fi rst composed: the subject matter is

daring, the language unfettered, and the point of view direct and unapolo-

getic. More than perhaps any other writer, Forugh Farrokhzad gave Iranian

women permission to be bold, furious, lustful, and rapturous. She ripped the

decorous conventions off women’s writing, holding up a mirror for women’s

hopes and pain. She cut a path through Iranian literature with her courage

and her honesty. For me, a young Iranian American woman coming of age

in 1990s California, reading Forugh’s poems felt like crossing into a different



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country, into a different idea of what it meant to be a woman, into different

possibilities for whom I myself could become.

Her poems changed me. They stoked my curiosity about Iranian

women’s lives, a curiosity I chased fi rst as a literary scholar and then as

a writer myself. To write my fi rst book, a family memoir titled The Good

Daughter, I spent several years researching Iran before the 1979 Revolution.

Even after completing the project, so much about this time period still vexed

and riveted me. Iran is a paradoxical country, and those paradoxes were pro-

foundly amplifi ed in the fi fties and sixties. Women’s lives underwent radical

changes in these years, yet many old prejudices and prohibitions endured. The

ensuing tensions fascinated me. Since Forugh’s day, women have become a

vital presence in Iranian literature, yet whether on account of cultural taboos

or outright censorship, it seemed that so much remained unwritten, particu-

larly about the decades leading up to the revolution. What did it mean to be a

woman in Iran at that time? What were the rules? What were the possibilities

and encumbrances? I wanted to read—and write—a story that answered these

questions.

Eventually, my thoughts turned to Forugh. For many years, I’d contin-

ued to read all I could about her, not knowing it would lead me to write

a novel. Then at one point I discovered she’d assisted some student activists

during the turmoil that roiled through Iran in the early sixties. I set about

learning all I could. I returned to her poems, then to scholarly sources.

Discovery piled onto discovery. What I found astonished me, and eventually

I thought, I have to tell her story.

As a poet, Forugh often drew inspiration from her life, and the outlines

of that life—a troubled early marriage and divorce, the forced surrender of

her son, her notorious union with a prominent fi lmmaker, and, of course,

her death in 1967 at the age of thirty-two—form the novel’s framework.

Moving between interpretation and imagination, I embedded the novel with

the images, tropes, themes, and rhythms of Forugh’s poems and fi lms. As I

wrote, the ghost of her voice—its urgency and tenderness—was constantly

in my ear. I wanted readers to hear it, too, so I steeped myself in her poetry,

working from the Persian into English. By translating her poems for the

novel, I gained a completely new intimacy with her writing, one of the most

precious gifts that came from writing Forugh’s story.

What I couldn’t know I invented. In part this was of necessity. Unlike

other novelists who’ve written about historical fi gures, I didn’t have access

to a well-stocked archive. After the 1979 Revolution, Forugh’s poems were

banned, then censored. When one press refused to stop printing her work,

it was scorched to the ground. For decades Michael C. Hillmann’s A Lonely

Woman, published in 1987, offered the only in-depth look into her life.

Forugh’s writing has been splendidly illuminated by Professor Farzaneh


BOOK CLU B K IT

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Milani, but Milani’s full-length Persian-language study, Forugh Farrokhzad:

A Literary Biography, was published in Iran shortly after I fi nished writing this

book.

Yet the gaps and fi ssures I encountered in the historical record opened

a space for invention. “The historian will tell you what happened,” E. L.

Doctorow remarked. “The novelist will tell you what it felt like.” In writ-

ing about Forugh, I wanted to go beyond what was known outwardly

about her—what could perhaps ever be known about her, given not just the

reticence of those who’d been close to her but the essential inscrutability of

the human personality. I wanted to imagine what it felt like to be the woman

writing those astonishing poems. To be the woman who created herself by

writing those poems. And to do this I embraced the unique power of fi ction

to illuminate the past.

As I worked on Song of a Captive Bird, I found myself continually moved

by Forugh’s bravery, tenacity, and independence, pained by the slights, preju-

dices, and cruelties she faced, and awed by her talent, vision, and integrity.

Through Forugh I found a way to enter the past and to return to the country

I’d left as a child, but to my surprise I discovered many of her dreams and

frustrations echoed through the present. Song of a Captive Bird is the story of

a woman who fought to create a life on her own terms, to balance confl icting

roles and desires, and to survive in an often-hostile world. Her choices, when

she had them, were hard. Her independence and her career were achieved at

signifi cant cost, not least the surrender of her child and her own emotional

well-being. Her love affairs both freed and entrapped her. Forugh was a

modern woman, and in her hopes and ambitions we can see our own.

Today her work is as signifi cant as ever, and for the same reasons it has

been for more than fi ve decades. Forugh Farrokhzad is an icon in Iran, a gifted

and spirited woman whose work and commitment to individual liberty and

social justice resonate deeply across generations. Her poems have been banned

and censored, but readers still manage to get ahold of them. There is perhaps

no more touching proof of her legacy than the thousands of people who trek

to her grave in Zahirodo’allah Cemetery every year.

Like those pilgrims, we can be enriched by giving words to the inexpress-

ible and expanding our view onto unfamiliar people and different worlds.

We have today the same need to not just look to at, but to truly see the strug-

gles of those seeking justice and also to celebrate those who, like Forugh,

show us the enduring importance of the arts to a thoughtful, free, and deeply

felt life. “Remember its fl ight,” Forugh famously wrote, “for the bird is

mortal.” My hope is that Forugh’s story in Song of a Captive Bird will inspire

and embolden readers, conjuring something of the magic that came with me

from Iran to America in two maroon leather suitcases so many years ago.

SONG of a CAPTIVE BIRD - Random House...Forugh. We call her by a single name. Generations of...

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