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Marjan Kamali with Rachel Barenbaum of “Check This Out”

Marjan Kamali and Rachel Barenbaum

Marjan Kamali and Rachel Barenbaum

Join us for an inspiring evening of conversation with author Marjan Kamali and Check This Out host Rachel Barenbaum for a joint fundraiser to benefit 826 Boston, the youth writing and publishing organization serving Boston students, and Check This Out, the NHPR literary series featuring interviews with emerging and diverse authors.

Reception at 6:00 PM
Speaking program at 6:20 PM
Event concludes by 7:00 PM

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About Marjan Kamali

Marjan Kamali is the award-winning author of The Lion Women of Tehran, an instant national bestseller, The Stationery Shop, a national and international bestseller, and Together Tea, a Massachusetts Book Award finalist. She is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship.

Marjan’s novels are published in translation in more than 25 languages (22 languages for The Stationery Shop and 10 languages for Together Tea). Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Literary Hub, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Marjan holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from New York University. Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, she spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S. Marjan is currently the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University. She lives in the Boston area with her family.

About Rachel Barenbaum

Rachel Barenbaum is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars. Atomic Anna was long listed for the Massachusetts Book Award, nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award, named an Honor Book by the Association of Jewish Libraries for their 2022 Fiction Award, and received a starred review from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. A Bend in the Stars was named a New York Times Summer Reading Selection and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.

Rachel is the founder and host of the radio show, Check This Out, a literary show focused on emerging and diverse writers that airs on New Hampshire’s NPR and is available wherever you get your podcasts. Her written work has appeared in the LA Review of Books, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. She has been a scholar in residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis and her work has been supported by residencies at Ucross, Norton Island, and Wildacres.

About 826 Boston

826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life.

Our services are structured around the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with individualized attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. With this understanding in mind, we provide after-school tutoring, field trips, creative writing workshops, in-school Writers’ Rooms, college essay assistance, help for English Language Learners, and in-depth publishing projects.

About Check This Out

Check This Out is a literary series where host Rachel Barenbaum interviews emerging and diverse authors. She dives deeply into books you may not have discovered. The show is a partnership between NHPR and PEN/Faulkner. Episodes air on NHPR and reach approximately 30,000 listeners in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Season Three featured interviews with Yael van der Wouden, Cherry Lou Sy, Ferdia Lennon and more. Season Four drops this spring.

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Event Details

Marjan Kamali with Rachel Barenbaum of “Check This Out”

May 14, 2025

6 PM-7 PM

Grub Street 50 Liberty Drive Boston MA 02210

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