Hollay Ghadery, on the perils of being half Iranian and her memoir, Fuse

Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

English - February 07, 2024 09:00 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MB - ★★★★★ - 437 ratings
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Previous Episode: Noam Schuster-Eliassi, Israeli comedian and activist, on the current state of affairs in Israel, and her Iranian-Israeli identity

Next Episode: Shally Zomorodi, on Embracing Joy and Acceptance as a Form of Resistance

Hollay Ghadery is is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions (2021) and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, came out Radiant Press in 2023 and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Hollay is also a book publicist and the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township.

I read Hollay’s memoir Fuse back when it came out in 2021, and I couldn’t believe how applicable the things she wrote about were for my audience- for biracial or bicultural Iranians raised in the west grappling with issues of identity, of all the difficulties and joys of being raised with all these identities, of the dark sides of it, and the beautiful sides as well. I’m so excited for y’all to hear our conversation, and of course for you to experience this book, as I hope you all do.