Debut short-story collection in English from acclaimed fiction writer Ali Hosseini, named a Favorite Short Story Collection of 2023 by the Chicago Review of Books

The stories in Dare the Sea explore Iran’s landscape, culture, and the undercurrent of change affecting its people—both in Iran and the United States. The stories in the first half of the collection are set in Iran in the time before and just after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Each tale discloses the obstacles rural Iranians lived with on a daily basis and the exigencies of survival: petty theft, corruption, drug trafficking, religion, and love. Stories in the second half take place in exile, where characters are seemingly dropped into American locales like the Midwest or Hawaii, taking in their situation with only the survival skills they’ve learned in their own land and enduring the hardships of being strangers in a new country.

Loosely interconnected by reappearing characters, the stories in Dare the Sea are strongly linked by the country of Iran, its landscape, its history, and its hold on its people.

ALI HOSSEINI is an Iranian American author who writes in Persian and English. He has published two novels in English, The Lemon Grove (2012) and The Place of Stones (2017), the latter a finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Prize. His short fiction has appeared in Kenyon Review, Antioch Review, and Guernica, among others. He came to the United States as a college student and worked as a farm laborer, construction worker, security guard, and later as an IT specialist. He lives in the Boston area.

“Each of Ali Hosseini’s remarkable stories creates a vivid world that is both familiar and eerily new. They dazzle with deep insights, the characters swept up in dramas that are both intensely personal and yet communal as well. I found myself laughing out loud at the abundant wit, but also caught up in the mystery and sadness that strike at the heart of the human. The stories in Dare the Sea sweep us up—they are a cause for joy and celebration.” —David H. Lynn, editor emeritus of The Kenyon Review— -

"An exquisite collection in breadth and depth." —Chicago Review of Books

"[The characters in Dare the Sea] encounter dual struggles with exile from Iran as well as belonging and integrating in the US. Dare the Sea is an insightful and at times humorous exploration of the complexities of Iranian identity." —Asian Review of Books

"The stories in Dare the Sea highlight the complexity of Iranian identity, with plots challenging myopic tropes about the Middle East and the American Dream. Deftly employing moments of unexpected humor and joy in dire situations, Hosseini's fiction never leans on convenient trauma or a singular narrative of Iran or Iranians. The depth and breadth of these stories is remarkable." —Aram Mrjoian, editor of We Are All Armenian: Voices from the Diaspora— -