Poignant, profound and fizzing with chaotic concepts, Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! has made waves and scooped up awards since its 2024 release. The debut novel from the award-winning poet follows Cyrus Shams, a queer Iranian-American navigating addiction and grief while obsessed with martyrdom. According to Kaveh, Cyrus is “not just this one little box, he’s as big as the world around him.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are similar multitudes to the literature that inspired Kaveh while writing Martyr!. “For the first time in my life I was seriously writing fiction after only having written poetry,” he says, reflecting on the notes he exchanged with friend and contemporary Tommy Orange (whose book There There was Dua’s Monthly Read in March 2025) throughout this period. “I was on this ‘narrative diet’ where I was watching a movie a day and reading two novels a week and consuming all this narrative constantly.”
For the Service95 Book Club, he shares an insight into the culture he consumed, with five books that shaped his striking debut.
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
“Tommy and I traded weekly writing back and forth for years (we still do!). His pages from that era eventually turned into Wandering Stars, mine became Martyr!. I think of Wandering Stars as the book that wrote mine.”
Checkpoint by Nicholson Baker
“This book found me when I was a teenager. I’ve never forgotten how radioactive and dangerous it felt to hold Checkpoint – about a man contemplating the ethics of assassinating George W Bush – as an Iranian Muslim kid in a post-9/11 America.”
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
“To me, this is the platonic ideal novel.”
The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight
“Growing up I had no idea there were other Muslims like me – addicts, queers, punks, etc – until I encountered The Taqwacores. Inarticulable, that gift of amongness.”
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
“A book I discovered while I was working on Martyr!. Lockwood is a wizard at articulating how joy deepens grief, and how grief makes joy wise. I sit at her feet.”
There’s More – Delve Deeper Into Martyr! With The Service95 Book Club...
WATCH Dua’s interview with its author Kaveh Akbar
HEAR a playlist picked by author Kaveh Akbar to soundtrack his novel
DISCOVER the true story of Iran Air Flight 655 – an event that plays a pivotal role within the book
EXPLORE an essay exploring how history an inheritance can live on through art
BOOKMARK ten titles to read when you’re having an existential crisis
