How lucky was I
to discover the world’s smallest bookshop in Iran.
I arrived in Yazd, Iran, after a five hour bus trip from the city of Kerman, near where I’d just spent 10 days on a writer’s residency. My Yazd accomodation was a fabulous historic house turned hostel and on my second night I stumbled across this wonderful little bookshop called Green Books. Literally a hole in the wall, only one arm span deep, at closing time it all disappears under a handy roller door. What more do you need? A bespoke milk crate and stool double as browsing seats, chatting stools and office.
Whenever I travel I love to visit bookshops but thus far on my Iran Journey I hadn’t had time to go out looking. I was very excited not only to find a bookshop but such a unique one at that! The young owner, Ali, who has a degree in mechanical engineering, invited me in to browse and we immediately began chatting. He has always loved books (his uncle has a PHD in Persian literature) and when he was in high school he frequented the library so often they gave him his own key. He read most of the books there! After playing violin in a teenage concert his mother, a midwife, gave him a book by Mahmoud Dowlatabaadi who soon became one of his favourite writers.
‘I don’t know anything but books’, he told me. ‘Because of the bad economic situation when I couldn’t get a job as an engineer, I finally managed to get work as a book salesman in my favourite bookshop in Yazd. When my military service came up I wondered how I could live without books for two years. I made an arrangement with my supervisor and was able to open Green Books on a part time basis (only three evenings a week) in my grandfather’s tiny old shop.’
For fifty years from the same spot his grandfather sold fabrics, silk and cashmere and observed the changes in Iranian life happening all around him. Two bullet holes in the roller door from a demonstration clash are reminders of those times, while a small collection of his grandfather’s books for sale, hark back to even earlier days.
The books on Ali’s shelves range from children’s fairy stories to Western and Iranian classics, second hand text books and some fabulous Persian picture books for children (and adults) which I snapped up. Located on busy Qiyam St, not far from the Amir Chagmagh Mosque and Bazaar, he mostly sells to tourists and locals who want to improve their English. But a number of languages are also represented: Farsi, English, French, German, Italian as well as a good sampling of of western and Iranian CD favourites.
My purchase included the Iranian classic, The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedeyat (1903–1951) who introduced modernism into Persian Literature. Probably Iran’s most famous modern novel (written in 1936), it has been translated into many languages. And The Water’s Footfall by the loved poet/painter Sohrab Sepehri (1928–1980) whose paintings I had viewed in the Kerman Contemporary Art Gallery a few days earlier.
From the small library at our residency villa I’d been dipping into the life and poetry of Parvin Etasami (1907– 41) who was recognised in her short life as another of Persia’s great poets. And the thirteenth century Persian poet Hafez of course. Travelling with me on my kindle I had: poetry by the acclaimed female poet Forough Farrokhzad, a compatriot of Sepehri, who like Etasami died tragically young; Fatemeh Keshavarz’ stories and essay: Jasmine and Stars: Reading More than Lolita in Tehran, where she critiques the New Orientalist narrative; Iran’s first modern female novelist, Simin Daneshvar’s Savushun: a story of a Persian family in Shiraz during the occupation of World War 11; and The Enlightenment of The Greengage Tree, an excellent recent novel by Iranian/Australian Shokoofeh Azar (shortlisted for Stella Prize in 2018).
Evenings are busy on Qiyam St, especially in summer. Shops stay open late as nobody comes out in the heat of the day unless they have to. Being right on the street is perfect place for conversations about books and Ali is never bored. In between our chatting and my browsing, a number of other customers turned up, including a large family group, a mother looking for books for her young daughter and one of Ali’s regulars who loves sci fi and quirky western titles.
As he was closing in a half hour Ali asked if I had experienced Yazd’s rooftop cafés. As it turned out I had them on my to-do list but had run out of time to find one. I dropped my books back at the hostel and came back as just as he was rolling the roller door shut. If you weren’t in the know you’d have no idea such a precious treasure trove was hidden behind that nondescript door. Then we headed off through the adobe laneways of the old city to arrive at Art House Café.
The cafe has several levels and from the top commands views over the old city skyline with its famous wind catcher towers. These tall adobe structures are an ancient system of air conditioning as wind is caught and funneled down into the building below.
Over tea we talked life and books. Ali’s favourite Iranian writers are Dowlatabaadi, Hedayat, Masoud Behnoud and Simin Daneshvar. His fave western writers are Hemingway, Camus, Belgium’s Eric Emmanuel Schmitt and French author Oliver Adame plus many more.
As for famous writers from the region he told me the Yazd born children’s author, Mehdi Azar-Yazdi, used to come to Ali’s school to give talks to children and encourage the love of reading. His most known work, Good Stories for Good Children, based on works of Persian literature, was written in eight volumes and won a UNESCO award in 1966.
Our snack arrived and so did my guide Saman from my earlier day tour. He was bringing me the French language program on usb he’d been playing in the car as we travelled from the Towers of Silence to the Zoroastrian Fire Temple to The Water Museum and the other historic Yazd places. French conversation lessons set to cool jazz. It added such a great ambiance to the day. When I asked for the name of it, he had promised to drop it round later. He couldn’t stay as he had to get home to prepare for his next tour. I was becoming accustomed to such generous gestures, they had been happening every day since I arrived.
We weren’t long to follow. Ali had to get up early for military service and next day I was going with a driver to Isfahan via Chak Chak, the sacred Zoraoastrian temple in the mountains.
When I asked Ali about his ambitions for the shop he replied that he wants to help show tourists another side of Iran to what is seen in the news. ‘If I can share with westerners the beauty of our culture then I feel a sense of deep calm,’ he said. He hopes to keep Green Books open but admits it is a struggle at the moment. Tourist numbers are down and because of the sanctions prices are up. ‘Everybody here has financial problems. It seems that the whole world especially the US, wants to put more and more pressure on innocent people. Maybe I have to sell the books at a much lower price. I will definitely have to go and find a part time job teaching maths just to stay alive.’
He dropped me back at my hostel and we said goodbye promising to stay in touch. Iranians are avid users of Instagram and Whats App so there’s no risk of breaking that promise.
Back at my hostel I went up to the rooftop for for one more look at the Yazd skyline. The dome and minarets of a mosque shimmered in the still night air, a scattering of tall adobe wind towers silhouetted against the indigo sky. The timeline of this city goes back several milennia and in 2017 the old city of Yazd received UNESCO World Heritage listing.Three religions: Islam, Zoraoastrianism and Judaism co-exist peacefully and ancient mosques, fire temples, synagogues, hammams, water systems, traditional houses and gardens, bazaars, mausoleums, madrasehs from ancient times are all intact. It is a brilliant example of how a highly civilised people have lived for centuries in the harsh desert landscape.
As I write this now I think about Ali’s answer to my question about his other love, writing. He said ‘ even famous writers in Iran have to find another way to make a living. Maybe one day when I have a stable situation and a calm mind I can do it too.’
I hope he finds that day soon.
© Word and photos by Jan Cornall 2019.
Thanks to those who made my Iran journey so memorable…
For easy entry into Tehran I was lucky to find Hi Tehran Hostel, centrally located, run by a female partnership, with fabulous local guides.
To Sarah, Mohammad at Seven Gardens Residency and their family of friends for a brilliant ten day residency. To the writers and artists of Kerman esp artists Mehrshid Amnipour @mehrshid.doll and @mohamadkhezrimoghadam
To my residency fellow artist Helen Kirwan @kirwan_helen
To the ever helpful travel agency Tappersia for help with visa, travel insurance and organising my aprés residency itinerary.
My guides: in Tehran, Golnar; in Kerman, Ali @alikhezrimoghadam; in Yazd, Saman @yazdguide; in Isfahan, Parinaz; in Kashan: Alex @alexguider1 (message @ instagram).
Jan Cornall is an Australian writer/performer who leads international creativity workshops and journeys for writers and artists. In the past she has taken groups to Bali, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet, Fiji, and Morocco and more.
Insta: @_writersjourney
@jancornallsongs
