Art Tatum Book Club

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

A discussion group dedicated to readings from the Library's Art Tatum African American Resource Center.

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

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Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.  Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith, art, ourselves, others.

A part of the library since 1989, the Art Tatum African American Resource Center is a dedicated space to provide educational and historical information on African American cultural heritage and experiences.  Through books, other materials, public programs, and art exhibits, the Resource Center recognizes and celebrates the lived experiences of African Americans.

The Resource Center is named in honor of American jazz great Art Tatum (1909-1956) who grew up in Toledo's Roosevelt neighborhood.