Interview with Ari Honarvar, Author of A Girl Called Rumi
Ari Honarvar is the founder of Rumi with a View, dedicated to building music and poetry bridges across war-torn borders. She conducts Resilience through Joy workshops for refugee shelters and other organizations on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
An award-winning writer-translator, her work has been featured in The Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, and elsewhere. She is the author of Rumi's Gift Oracle Cards, bridging elements of the Western Tarot and the ancient art of Persian poetry divination. Her novel, A Girl Called Rumi, weaves a tale of immigration, redemption, and the power of storytelling and is based on Ari's experience growing up in post-revolution Iran.
Ari Honarvar's debut novel, A Girl Called Rumi (Forest Avenue Press, 2021), won a 2022 Nautilus Book Award. She sat down to answer questions on dancing, magical realism, and Iran.
Jacquelyn Scott: Congratulations on A Girl Called Rumi winning a Nautilus Book Award! What was that moment like for you?
Ari Honarvar: I heard the news when I was about to get on a plane for a little European book tour and to dance with Ukrainian refugees in London. It was a lovely surprise. I just won a BookFest award, and I’m dedicating it to all those brave and unarmed civilians who are fighting for their right to live in a just and equitable world in Iran. These days – as much as I can – I do my best to amplify Iranian protesters’ voices in the midst of the current women-led revolution.
Scott: How do storytelling, dancing, music, and lyricism play a role throughout A Girl Called Rumi, and how did your background as a Musical Ambassador of Peace influence the book?
Honarvar: My childhood was spent in oppression and war. I was six when the Islamic Republic began its war on women. I was seven when the war with Iraq (that destroyed millions of lives and lasted eight years) broke out. To survive the darkness I relied on the soul-saving power of poetry and storytelling. My friends and I also took risks that could end our freedom, and we danced and sang in private.
As an adult in the United States, I joined Musical Ambassadors of Peace, which focuses on the power of music and dancing to heal war wounds. I run music and dance circles specifically for refugees because I want to give them what was denied to me as a child (which was the healing power of music and dancing) and what I longed for as a newcomer (which was a sense of community—something I could’ve really used coming here at the age of 14 and without my parents). So the book doesn’t just rely on what was wrong during a terrible time but all that was right, too— the delight of childhood friendships, the breathtaking nature, the food, the poetry, and even dancing and music. I wanted to honor both joy and suffering because life is a dance between two opposing forces. And as the storyteller in the book suggests, all states of being are sacred. I also wanted to highlight that during difficulties, savoring joy through music, food, humor, and the arts can be both a source of resilience and an act of resistance.
Scott: In the midst of a brutal war and extremely oppressive regime, how does Kimia find the strength and will to persist?
Honarvar: Kimia relied on her friendship with Reza as a source of nourishment. She tapped into the power of imagination and good memories. Once she found the storyteller, she lived for the next installment of the story. Like for Shahrzad and the One Thousand and One Nights, story became a sanctuary and a lifesaver in the midst of brutality and death.
Scott: How were you able to weave magical realism throughout the book, and why was it important to do so?
Honarvar: When I began writing this book, I hadn’t come across any Iranian novels with magical realism. I was a huge fan of Latin literature that incorporates magical realism and wanted to do something similar for this book. I also remember how important the power of imagination was when we had three channels on TV that censored women and joy and we weren’t allowed to play or have fun in public. I retreated to my room and read and imagined a different world. I wanted to tease that flavor out in the book.
Scott: What do you want the biggest takeaway to be for your readers?
Honarvar: When we increase our capacity for joy, we increase our capacity for suffering too. In the book, I wanted to introduce enough beauty and loveliness to the readers, so they would be able to read the difficult parts without becoming hopeless and despondent.
Scott: What motivated you to write A Girl Called Rumi?
Honarvar: My husband Brian and I wrote a version of this story as a screenplay when we first met as part of our courtship, a love letter of sorts, going back and forth fifteen years ago. I took the essence of our screenplay and made it into a novel in 2017. But our love affair continues.
Scott: What about writing energizes you? What about it exhausts you?
Honarvar: I really enjoy fallow periods. I don’t have to be writing all the time. When I do write fiction, I love inhabiting new worlds and seeing life through my characters’ eyes. The hardest part of publishing a book isn't the writing but the marketing for me. I, like many writers, want to just write and leave the marketing to experts but the business has changed so much throughout the years.
Scott: How do you like to recover from reading or writing fatigue?
Honarvar: Moving my body is always a good thing. Playing in the garden, being out in nature, running, yoga, dancing, and a Feldenkrais session—all these help restore and refresh my system.
Scott: What are you currently reading or working on?
Honarvar: I’m writing a couple of nonfiction pieces and finishing Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.
Scott: What is the best piece of writing advice you've received?
Honarvar: There are no rules. Follow your own natural rhythm.
Scott: Any last words?
Honarvar: Please support Iranian protesters by sharing campaigns and news on social media.
From Forest Avenue Press:
A Girl Called Rumi by Ari Honarvar
A Girl Called Rumi, Ari Honarvar’s debut novel, weaves a captivating tale of survival, redemption, and the power of storytelling.
Kimia, a successful spiritual advisor whose Iranian childhood continues to haunt her, collides with a mysterious giant bird in her mother’s California garage. She begins reliving her experience as a nine-year-old girl in war-torn Iran, including her friendship with a mystical storyteller who led her through the mythic Seven Valleys of Love.
Grappling with her unresolved past, Kimia agrees to accompany her ailing mother back to Iran, only to arrive in the midst of the Green Uprising in the streets. Against the backdrop of the election protests, Kimia begins to unravel the secrets of the night that broke her mother and produced a dangerous enemy.
As past and present collide, she must choose between running away again or completing her unfinished journey through the Valley of Death to save her brother.
Get your copy from Forest Avenue Press.
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