3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2017
Iranian novelist makes it to Oysterville
country and dominate most
families, she said, her par-
ents gave her freedom. They
encouraged her to tell the truth
as she sees it when she started
writing while studying at Teh-
ran’s Azad University. She
earned her degree in electrical
engineering, her father’s pro-
fession, but found writing bet-
ter suited her.
By AMY NILE
EO Media Group
OYSTERVILLE, Wash.
— An Iranian writer made a
beeline for Oysterville, hop-
ing a federal court would block
President Donald Trump’s
ban on travel into the U.S.
from her country along with
six other Muslim-majority
nations.
Aida Moradi Ahani, 34, left
her home not knowing how
much time she might have,
if any, to get to here for her
monthlong artist residency in
March.
The author and novelist’s
original plans were foiled by
Trump’s January order stop-
ping visitors from Iran, Iraq,
Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan
and Libya from coming into
the U.S. and the resettlement
refugees.
She kept checking for CNN
and BBC news updates on her
smartphone, but it wasn’t clear
if the courts could override the
president’s ban. So she took
her chances and started her
trip, boarding an Etihad Air-
ways flight from Tehran to Abu
Dhabi.
Ahani was waiting to
catch her next flight to New
York when she heard the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld an order in February by
a federal judge in Seattle halt-
ing the president’s ban.
Second novel
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Aida Moradi Ahani, an Iranian writer working on her sec-
ond novel, rested in Oysterville, Wash., last week after tak-
ing a chance that she could make it to America.
Safe in O’ville
She arrived in Oysterville on
Feb. 12, two weeks ahead of the
five other artists who have now
joined her at Willapa Bay AiR.
“Aida is lovely,” Jeff
McMahon, the nonprofit’s
manager, said. “The artists are
excited about the opportunity to
do their work.”
Meanwhile, the White
House is devising another
travel and refugee order to try
to avoid future legal snares.
History of resistance
Ahani remains determined
to defy despotic power with
her writing after growing up
under the confines of the Ira-
nian regime.
She was born in Tehran
during the country’s eight-year
war with Saddam Hussein’s
Iraq. The bloody battle that
lasted longer than either world
war came after the Shah mon-
archy was overthrown in the
1979 Iranian Revolution.
“I remember the sound of
the alarms when it was time to
go to the shelter,” Ahani said.
“Yes, it was sad. It was horrible
sometimes. But it helped me to
understand we can get through
dark days.”
Ahani dares to publish
descriptions of life in the
Islamic Republic, despite a
government notorious for cen-
sorship and punishing dissent.
Although men control the
Now, Ahani hopes to fin-
ish her third book and second
novel during her stay at Wil-
lapa Bay AiR. The nonprofit
gives artists, writers and musi-
cians from around the world a
chance to work uninterrupted at
its secluded, 16-acre spot in the
woods near Oysterville.
The residency accepts about
one in 10 who apply for coveted
spots offered at no cost to six
artists each month from March
to September, McMahon said.
Every effort is made to avoid
disturbing the residents while
they work, including having
their lunches delivered.
Ahani is using the time to
work on the final draft of her
novel about an Iranian woman
and an American man. They
fall in love but run into politi-
cal pitfalls and cultural divides.
Ahani said she writes about
romance but she’s more inter-
ested in her work than her own
love life.
Like many Persians, she
hasn’t published much of her
writing in English. She hopes
working with American artists
during her residency will help
her change that.
The
Brooklyn-based
Akashic Books in 2014 pub-
lished her debut in English after
her first book and her novel
came out. “Tehran Noir,” a col-
lection of short stories by Ira-
nian writers, featured Ahani’s
“Lariyan’s Day in the Sun.”
She said she was surprised
the Iranian government allowed
the uncensored publication of
her book in 2011 and her novel,
“Golfing on the Gunpowder,”
in 2013. But she couldn’t let the
fear of her voice being silenced
stop her from telling the story
of a girl who was abused after
she was forced to make secret
deals for the regime.
“I don’t think about that,”
Ahani said. “I think about writ-
ing the truth.”
She got the title for her
book, a collection of short sto-
ries called “The Pin on Cat’s
Tail,” from a game Iranian chil-
dren play in schools. They learn
where the country is on the map
by tacking a pin into it on the
map.
The characters in the nine
stories struggle with past expe-
riences after the Iranian Rev-
olution. Ahani said they have
different troubles that stem
from the same problem, their
father’s control of their family.
Empty bowls readied for annual anti-hunger event
Students craft
soup bowls for
local fundraiser
By DAMIAN MULINIX
For EO Media Group
ILWACO, Wash. — As
Hilltop Middle School stu-
dents rolled out two types of
clay for a third time — this
time together — some seemed
to wonder why. But once they
started cutting the logs of clay
into little rounds and then
smashing them together into
a paper bowl they used as a
mold, it all started to become
clear.
The marbled effect is
attractive, something you
might want to purchase. Soon
enough, potential buyers will
have their chance.
Now in its ninth year on the
peninsula, the annual Empty
Bowls event returns to the
Peninsula Church Center on
March 18. The event, which
raises money to fight global
hunger, sells soup from var-
ious local restaurants served
in bowls made by local school
kids.
According to the Ocean
Beach Presbyterian Women’s
Association, which sponsors
and hosts Empty Bowls, the
local event has raised more
than $45,000.
Once again heading up the
project is Long Beach clay
artist Karen Brownlee, who
estimated that they will have
made more than 600 bowls this
year. Brownlee made different
styles of bowls with the differ-
ent age groups — kindergarten
through sixth grade. For Hill-
top school, she chose an agate-
style design.
“You use two different
kinds of clay and kind of swirl
them together,” she explained.
“This class did porcelain and
stoneware. Each class will do
a different combination.”
Once formed, the bowls are
fired in a kiln for nearly a day
before being returned to the
schools for glazing. They they
go back in the kiln a final time.
Empty Bowls is an interna-
tional hunger-awareness cam-
paign, with local events taking
place around the world. The
peninsula version was orig-
inally started as a project of
the Highly Capable program
at Long Beach School, with
Brownlee helping.
“It’s about the role of power
in our society,” she said. “Why
should we accept everything
from one power? I’ve always
challenged that.”
After reading her words,
a professor at Stanford Uni-
versity invited her to the pres-
tigious California campus to
speak about her generation of
Iranian writers.
Sharing together
Ahani said she hopes
Americans and Iranians can
share their cultures through lit-
erature and art, despite politi-
cal problems. She blames the
media for making the people
of the two countries seem like
enemies.
“I know it’s a big lie and
I wish Americans knew the
same,” she said. “People are
different from their govern-
ment. They’re just people.
They don’t have any main
role in the decisions of their
government.”
After finishing her resi-
dency, Ahani is scheduled to
speak at the University of Cal-
ifornia, Irvine. She also plans
to visit Ohio.
She’s determined to break
into American literature so she
can share Iranian culture and
the challenges her people face
with the world.
“There’s a way for every-
thing,” she said. “Always, I
think about hope.”
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