August 13Aug 13 Dua talked with Madeline Cash to discuss about her book Lost Lambs for the August monthly read. More details below.https://www.service95.com/books/lost-lambs-madeline-cash Edited August 13Aug 13 by Juan Carlos
August 27Aug 27 Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar has been chosen as the Service95 Book Club September monthly read book.Coming up next for the Service95 Book Club..."My monthly read for September is Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. The story follows Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American who is suicidally sad but desperate not to waste his suicide. The long shadow of his mother’s death on Iran Air Flight 655 – tragically shot out of the sky by the US navy during the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 – looms over his life.Cyrus is a recovering addict learning to live with his sobriety. In his quest to find meaning and come to terms with the death of his mother, he develops an obsession with martyrdom.Martyr! made me think about martyrdom in ways I’d never considered. Yes, Cyrus’s thoughts turn to hunger strikers and those prepared to give their life for their country. But when he encounters Orkideh, a terminally ill artist living out her final days on display in the Brooklyn Museum, he begins to see the question of sacrifice through an entirely different lens.The book fizzes with chaotic energy and a thirst for life that is at odds with Cyrus’s obsession with death. It’s also very funny, with Cyrus playing ‘good person drag’ as a medical actor performing pain for cash, and Lisa Simpson making a cameo in long dream-sequence dialogues.This novel is profound, sincere, regularly comedic and quite unlike anything I’ve ever read before."- Dua x
August 31Aug 31 New teaser from the upcoming Service95 newsletter out tomorrow.We hear some of you are rather excited for this one 👀You’ll be pleased to know the wait is almost over. All the content for Dua’s September #MonthlyRead – Martyr! – will be landing in your inboxes tomorrow.A poignant and generous exploration of addiction, identity, mortality and belonging, Kaveh Akbar’s novel is, as Dua Lipa puts it, “something else”. Chaotic, funny and deeply moving, if you’re looking for a book that will stop you in your tracks and have you reflecting on everything you thought you knew about life and artistry – this is it.In tomorrow’s newsletter, we’ll go beyond the page, with a look at the real-life story that shaped the novel, an essay from artist Osman Yousefzada (Osman Studio) exploring the connection between art and our histories, Kaveh’s reading recommendations and more.Stay tuned for Dua’s interview and make sure you’re subscribed for the full Service95 Book Club experience here.
September 2Sep 2 Dua talked with Kaveh Akbar to discuss about his book Martyr! for the September monthly read. More details below.https://www.service95.com/books/martyrNew podcast episode out now! This month Dua Lipa sits down with author and poet Kaveh Akbar to discuss his debut novel Martyr!, which is Dua’s #MonthlyRead for September.A poignant and generous exploration of addiction, identity, art and exile, Martyr! centres around Cyrus Shams, a newly sober poet struggling to find his footing in life while reckoning with the loss of his mother decades earlier.Together, Dua and Kaveh explore Cyrus’s grief, addiction and search for a sense of place, as well as the real-life events woven into the novel and the power of fiction to bring the human consequences of history into focus. They also discuss Kaveh’s philosophy on art, his journey from poetry into fiction and his friendship with fellow author Tommy Orange, which shaped his writing rituals. Whether you’ve read Martyr!, plan to, or still need convincing, this is a conversation worth listening to. Find the full conversation on the Service95 Book Club podcast.
