SALAR ABDOH was born in Iran and splits his time between Tehran and New York City. He is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Tehran at Twilight, The Poet Game, Opium, and Out of Mesopotamia – which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice and Best Book of the Year from Publishers Weekly – and the editor of Tehran Noir. He is also the deputy chair interim director of the MFA program at the City College of New York. In A Nearby Country Called Love: A Novel (Viking) is his latest work.