I Will Greet the Sun Again
By Khashayar J. Khabushani
Hogarth, August 1, 2023
Call me K, because unlike Baba and Maman I was born right here and like my brothers I want to be known as a boy from L.A., since that’s the truth.”
Growing up in the San Fernando Valley with his two brothers, all K wants is to be “a boy from L.A.,” all American. But K—the youngest, named after a Persian king—knows there’s something different about himself. Like the way he feels about his closest friend, Johnny, a longing that he can’t share with anyone.
At home, K must navigate another confusing identity: that of the dutiful son of Iranian immigrants struggling to make a life for themselves in the United States. He tries to make his mother proud, live up to her ideal of a son. On Friday nights, K attends prayers at the local mosque with Baba, whose violent affections distort K’s understanding of what it means to be a man and how to love.
When Baba takes the three brothers from their mother back to Iran, K finds himself in an ancestral home he barely knows. Returning to the Valley months later, K must piece together who he is, in a world that now feels as foreign to him as the one he left behind.
A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family—and the stories that make us who we are.
Selected Praise
“A moving debut, teeming with desire and light, and quietly devastating. Khashayar J. Khabushani’s voice keens and surprises, and at the center of the book we find K, tenderhearted, spirit glowing like a beacon.”—Justin Torres, author of We the Animals
“A marvel . . . Reading it, I felt the thrill and joy of encountering a major writer at the beginning of his career.”—Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning
“Why wasn’t I Will Greet the Sun Again around when I was ten, when I was twenty? This is a book I’ve dreamed of reading my whole life. . . . Better late than never, Khashayar J. Khabushani. I am jealous of the generation of people who will grow up in a world with I Will Greet the Sun Again in it. I will be thinking about these characters forever.”—Kaveh Akbar, author of Pilgrim Bell
“A story for us brown kids who grew up in apartment complexes, making our own breakfast, lunch, and dinner because our immigrant parents were away at work . . . Khabushani’s voice is a revelation; he has written a novel that shows what it means to grow up into a beautiful young man.”—Javier Zamora, author of Solito
“Exquisite, heartbreaking, incredibly beautiful . . . , this is a novel to return to again and again.”—Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water
“Khashayar J. Khabushani has taken a coming-of-age story and flooded it with light. . . . This is a gorgeous and wrenching debut from a writer I’ll be following for many years to come.”—Catherine Lacey, author of Nobody Is Ever Missing
“A work of meticulous care and genuine candor . . . Khabushani is a poetic visionary, as generous as he is brave.”—Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock and The Vanishers
“Deeply moving and courageous . . . an intimate and unflinching story about the ways in which we hurt each other and how we all need love and acceptance to survive.”—Sahar Delijani, author of Children of the Jacaranda Tree
“Tender, heartbreaking . . . Khabushani is an incredibly talented writer.”—Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers
“A heartbreaking, cinematic, and original story of gathering and becoming oneself. I Will Greet the Sun Again glimmers with wisdom and beauty and pain, and Khabushani pulls off what only the very gifted can do—he has written a book that feels as dark, as light, and as alive as youth itself.”—Aria Aber, author of Hard Damage
“Beautiful . . . Khabushani renders K’s experiences in poignant vignettes that speak to the young boy’s sensitivity as he dreams of a better, albeit uncertain future. This heartrending tale will stay with readers.”—Publishers Weekly, (starred review)
About the Author
Khashayar J. Khabushani was born in Van Nuys, California, in 1992. During his childhood he spent time in Iran before returning to Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at California State University, Northridge, and prior to completing his MFA at Columbia University, he worked as a middle school teacher. This is his first novel.
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