Award-winning author Adib Khorram is coming to Hastings on Monday, February 12 to talk about his novel Darius
the Great is Not Okay, which is the Hastings Reads book this year. After a lyceum at HHS, Khorram will speak at
the Hastings Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and all are welcome to attend. A limited number of
Khorram's book will be for sale for $10, and Khorram will be signing books!
The novel Darius the Great is Not Okay is about a teenager named Darius Kellner. According to the author's
website, "Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than
Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his
life. Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical
depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes
things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending
their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s
skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like
himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab. Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt
not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay."
Darius the Great is Not Okay can be purchased at all major bookstores, at Tilden, and at the YMCA. The book is
also available in print, ebook and audiobook through the public library. All Hastings Reads events and details can
be found on hastingsreads.com.