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Sirenland Writers Conference Blog
When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh.
Dial, $22 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-34068-7
In this subtle yet bracing account of growing up in Pittsburgh as the child of two committed socialists during the 1970s and ’80s, Sayrafiezadeh offers up a solidly written memoir expanding on a piece he wrote for Granta in 2005. The youngest son of an Iranian-born father and an American-Jewish mother, Sayrafiezadeh spent most of his life after age three as his mother’s emotional crutch after his father leaves to pursue a single-minded devotion to a cause that makes him “disappear behind this massive workload of revolution” and out of his son’s life. As Sayrafiezadeh moves from cheap to cheaper apartment with his fervently revolutionary mother, he comes to realize that his poverty “was intentional and self-inflicted... as opposed to a reality that could not be avoided”—so much so that his mother won’t get him a skateboard until “the revolution comes,” when “everyone will have a skateboard, because all skateboards will be free.” Sayrafiezadeh’s excellent memoir displays a sophistication and keen intelligence that allows him to walk the line between pain and humor without even seeming mawkish or cheaply cynical. (Mar.)
Michael
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Hey -I am not normally a fan of blogging. Don't get me wrong. I love to read them. I just don't have the courage to do it myself. All that worry over words. Who needs it? However, after reading Jonathan's post, I feel compelled to clarify a few things. I don't want you all to think that all we do in Positano is drink. We also eat.
The food is glorious. There were these little meatballs at Carla's house that were so good, I hid behind the kitchen door and when the server came out, I pounced. I must've eaten thirty. The fresh mozzarella will bring you to your knees. I had a ham and cheese sandwich from room service at Le Sirenuse that made me cry. It had this creamy melted cheese topped with a thin layer of prosciutto on this pale golden toasted bread. I still think about that sandwich.
And we laugh. A lot.
We also take home the small bottles of lotion from the room and when we are having a bad day, we open them, we smell them and remember what it was like to be surrounded with people who love words, who are generous and smart, and our days get better because we are no longer writing alone.
Michael tells me I am the only three-timer coming back this year. I don't know if that makes me pathetic or heroic but I do know it is better than being called a two-timer. I will happily answer any questions by email, as long as you don't mind if I make stuff up if I don't know the answer. If you're so inclined, you find me in Positano and introduce yourself. I will be the one in the bar, next to Jonathan, drinking and eating and laughing at my own jokes.
Allison
Allison
3 comments
Allison
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Last year's Sirenland Fellow, Said Sayrafiezadeh's book, When Skateboards Will Be Free will be published in March. The first review:
The poignant, brilliantly told story of a unique and troubled childhood.
Granta and Paris Review contributor Sayrafiezadeh writes captivatingly of his strange, lonely upbringing as the child of radical socialists in 1970s New York. His Iranian-born father, who abandoned the family when the author was an infant, and American-Jewish mother fervently believed that the United States would soon be transformed by a bloody revolution, and both worked tirelessly for the Socialist Workers Party to bring about that revolution.
Sayrafiezadeh writes of dreamlike days standing on street corners with his mother as she tried to sell copies of the party newspaper, The Militant. He grew up in grinding poverty, not because his parents had no choice—both were highly educated—but because of their dogmatic anti-capitalist views. For their young son, the vow of poverty meant personal deprivation and, often, bitterness. Sayrafiezadeh movingly relates his consuming craving as a preschooler for grapes, forbidden in his household because of a boycott supporting a migrant workers' strike. Some of his stories are almost surreal. When he asked his mother to buy him a skateboard, she replied, "Once the revolution comes, everyone will have a skateboard, because all skateboards will be free." One night when she had a meeting to attend, she left her four-year-old son home with a "comrade" she had met only two days earlier who sexually abused the boy. Later chapters detail the author's difficult relationship with his colorful but standoffish father, whom he got to know only when he was nearly an adult, as well as the prejudices he faced as an Iranian-American during the hostage crisis of 1979–'80. An enormously talented writer, Sayrafiezadeh ably conveys a complex blend of affection and anger toward his deeply flawed parents in deftly controlled prose.
An excellent memoir. Sayrafiezadeh is a writer to watch.
Michael
2 comments
Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste...
 Since we’ll all be on the same boat for a week in March, I thought I’d say hey. This is Jonathan Woods. I live in Dallas, Texas, the future home of W.
Last year I had the distinct pleasure of hanging out in Positano for a week. It’s the most beautiful place to while away an afternoon (or seven) over a few bottles of wine. Then maybe a nap before the cocktail hour. Then there’s dinner and more wine. And after dinner cigars (if that’s your thing) and more wine or brandy.
Since last year, when I arrived in Positano with one story appearing under my nom de guerre, things have been rockin’ & rollin’ in the writing department. Now there are six published stories plus two more scheduled to appear before we uncork the first bottle of vino at Le Sirenuse. This is mostly due to an incredible editor named Susan Tomaselli, who hangs out in Dublin and is the most exciting word surfer to arrive on the literary scene since sliced bread (whole grain of course). Also thanks to Rachel Kendall, another great editor and writer hiding out in Manchester, England. Links to my stories are at www.southernnoir.com.
By the way, at Le Sirenus there’s no breakfast menu but you can order eggs for breakfast in addition to gorging yourself on the buffet. And you have to sleep with your balcony door open for the sound of the waves.
Who am I? Ex-corporate deal lawyer, formerly with Nortel Networks. Education: BA, McGill University; JD cum laude, New England School of Law; LLM in Trade Regulation New York University School of Law. Three children, one of whom is deceased, one of whom is a prosecutor in Dallas and one of whom works at the home offices of Whole Foods and paints. A spouse named Dahlia Woods, who is a very talented painter and gallery owner (www.dahliawoodsgallery.com). A shih tzu named Sweet Pea and a toy poodle named Madame FeFe (I know, don’t say it) inhabit the same household. My other favorite thing is that Michael Connolly read my first novel (which was a piece of crap) and wrote me a three-page critique telling me what I needed to do. He was right on.
My favorite writers are Robert Stone, Barry Gifford, Raymond Chandler, E. A. Poe, Patricia Highsmith, Jean Rhys, Henry Miller, J.G. Farrell, early J.G. Ballard, Malcolm Lowry, Alexander Trocchi, Ken Bruen, Frank Miller and the Coen Brothers. Recent great reads: Queer, Junky and And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (all by Wm. S. Burroughs), Edward St. Aubyn’s Bad News, stories by Eudora Welty, Barry Hannah and Katherine Anne Porter, Queneau’s Zazie in the Metro, Barry Gifford’s Port Tropique and a great story called “Lydia” by my writer friend Jim Story published in The Same, Vol 7, Nos. 1-2.
Favorite movies of 2008: 1. Revolutionary Road; 2. In Bruges; 3. The Last Mistress; 4. Gran Torino; 5. Cadillac Records; 6. Burn After Reading; 7. Street Kings (screenplay by James Ellroy); 8. Vicky Cristina Barcelona; 9. Slumdog Millionaire; 10. a tie between: Tell No One and Girl Cut in Two. I hated Rachel Getting Married. Benjamin Button sucked. Only TV watched in 2008: Law & Order reruns, Mad Men (addicted) and old movies.
I’ll stop now.
See you in the bar at Le Sirenus.
Ciao,
Jonathan
PS: An easy way to get to Positano from Rome is to take the late morning train from Rome to Salerno. Crash there in a nice four-star hotel for about 80 euros. The next morning take the 2-hour bus ride from Salerno to Positano for only 3 euros. It’s a totally beautiful way to spend the morning, with fantastic views. Catch the Positano bus just outside the railroad station in Salerno. You have to change in Amalfi but the drivers are helpful if you ask, and make an attempt to speak a little Italian. The bus drops you about a hundred feet from the front door of Le Sirenus.
PPS: Join the Sirenland blog if you’re so inclined.
Jonathan
2 comments
We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2009 Sirenland Fellowship: Robin Black.
Robin Black's stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications, most recently One Story, Colorado Review, The Southern Review and The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. I (Norton, 2007). A three time recipient of Special Mention from the Pushcart Prize and First Prize winner of the 2005 Pirate's Alley Faulkner/Wisdom Writing Competition (Short Story Category), Robin lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband, three children and Tibetan Terrier. Her first story collection Yesterday's News and a still untitled novel are both forthcoming from Random House and will also be published in six other countries – including Italy.
The Sirenland fellowship provides travel, room and board and fees for attending The Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. It is given to a writer who is in the process of completing a project, but has not published a book before March, 2009. Candidates are nominated by a panel of publishing professionals. All entries are read blind and the winner chosen by author Dani Shapiro. The fellowship is sponsored by Antonio Sersale, the owner and manager of Le Sirenuse.
Michael
6 comments
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