Potato Eaters

The Potato Eaters by Merila Moradi, translated from Persian by Arash Khoshsafa, is a daring debut short story collection that confronts the raw textures of modern life without ornament or illusion. Rooted in naturalism yet tinged with fantasy and subtle magical realism, these stories inhabit a world where the strange unfolds within the logic of reality itself. Moradi portrays contemporary society in all its darkness and discomfort-its loneliness, frustration, and quiet despair. Her characters drift through fragmented relationships and distorted perceptions, searching for refuge while resisting self-recognition. The result is a body of work that is unsettling, sometimes abrasive, yet deeply compelling in its honesty. Rejecting conventional plotlines and linear narration, the collection moves through fluid, shifting narrative spaces that mirror the instability of the modern Iranian experience. The language is contemporary and sharp, influenced by the rhythms of digital culture, making it especially resonant for today's readers. Bold, unconventional, and unafraid of risk, The Potato Eaters introduces Moradi as a distinctive new voice in contemporary fiction-one whose uncompromising vision challenges, provokes, and lingers.

Merila Moradi, born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1981, is a graphic designer, sculptor and writer. She began her writing journey at the age of seventeen through short story workshops in Shiraz, led by Shahriar Mandanipour, and later had her short stories published sporadically in literary magazines in Iran. Arash Khoshsafa is an Iranian PhD holder in English literature from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His main scholarly focus is literary criticism and modern American fiction, especially the works of dirty realism authors such as Richard Ford. In addition to translating fiction from English into Persian and vice versa, and publishing in Iran and overseas, Arash writes fiction in Persian and English.