Israeli book to be distributed in Iran as 'a life line between the countries'

The major Israeli author Etgar Keret is hoping that the translation of his new book, The Seven Good Years, into Farsi “will help some of its Iranian readers to see the Israeli people as flawed human entities and not just as mortal enemies”.
According to Keret’s translator, the Afghan writer and journalist Aziz Hakimi, it is “almost unprecedented” for books by Israeli writers to be translated into Farsi. Iranian government restrictions mean Keret’s title cannot be published in Iran. But the Farsi edition, Aan Haft Saal-e Khoob, will be published in London via the H&S Media imprint Nebesht, and available in print in Afghanistan for the Iranian market on 1 November. It will also be sold in digital format, and there are plans in place to publish the book in Kabul.
“The Persian book market is very limited and the fact that Etgar’s books are not allowed to get published in Iran makes it even more difficult to reach customers in a traditional way through bookshops,” said Hakimi, who estimates that around 4,000 copies of the book will sell online, in print and digital format, with another 1,000 sold through the Kabul publisher.