Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram (Dial Books, 2018)
Darius has never really fit in at home, and he’s sure things are going to be the same in Iran. His clinical depression doesn’t exactly help matters, and trying to explain his medication to his grandparents only makes things harder. Then Darius meets Sohrab, the boy next door, and everything changes. Soon, they’re spending their days together, playing soccer, eating faludeh, and talking for hours on a secret rooftop overlooking the city’s skyline. Sohrab calls him Darioush—the original Persian version of his name—and Darius has never felt more like himself than he does now that he’s Darioush to Sohrab.
Adib Khorram is an author, a graphic designer, and a tea enthusiast. He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. A theater kid in high school, he went on to study design and technical theater at Southern Illinois University. Darius the Great Deserves Better will be released August 25, 2020.
William C. Morris Debut Award
Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature
Lambda Literary Award Finalist
YALSA Best Fiction For Young Adults Top 10
Publishers Weekly Flying Start
TIME‘s 10 Best Young Adult and Children’s Books of the Year
Boston Globe Best Books of the Year
Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year
BuzzFeed Best YA Books of the Year
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
Kirkus Best Books of the Year
New York Public Library’s Best Books of the Year
Book Expo Young Adult Buzz Panel Selection
Indies Introduce Selection
Indie Next Top Ten Pick
Rob Bittner has a PhD in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (SFU), and is also a graduate of the MA in Children’s Literature program at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. He loves reading a wide range of literature, but particularly stories with diverse depictions of gender and sexuality.
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