Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet and novelist born in Tehran in 1989 and raised in the United States. He is one of the most celebrated poets of his generation and the author of two poetry collections, Calling a Wolf a Wolf (2017) and Pilgrim Bell (2021), as well as the novel Martyr! (2024). Martyr! follows Cyrus Shams, an Iranian-American poet and recovering addict obsessed with martyrdom, who begins interviewing a famous artist whose final performance consists of sitting in a gallery room waiting to die. The novel was an instant sensation upon publication, winning the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction in 2025. It was praised for its intellectual daring, its lyrical brilliance, and its emotionally overwhelming examination of grief, addiction, and artistic vocation. Akbar teaches creative writing at Purdue University and has received fellowships from the Stegner Program, the Kundiman Foundation, and other organisations. He lives in Indiana.