With beloved debut novel, Kansas Citian rides literary wave from unknown to renowned
Brooklyn-based literary agent Molly O’Neill knew nothing of Adib Khorram when his unsolicited manuscript arrived in her email inbox. But with just a glance, she saw that the Kansas Citian’s novel rose above the hundreds of other submissions from would-be authors hoping to land an agent and a book contract.
O’Neill later finished reading the manuscript while eating at a restaurant.
“I wound up sobbing over my salad, which is something I didn’t expect to do,” the agent for Root Literary said. “I immediately called him and said I have to represent this book.”
The result has been a literary success story.
Khorram’s debut young adult novel, “Darius the Great Is Not Okay,” won a bundle of awards after coming out in August 2018, has been translated into five languages (and counting) and is in the early stages of being made into a movie at Universal Studios.
Its follow-up, “Darius the Great Deserves Better,” will be released Aug. 25 by Penguin Random House.
Like his now enthusiastic agent, Khorram never expected this.
While he attended Winnetonka High School (class of 2002) in the North Kansas City school district, he was into theater and science fiction — especially “The Hunger Games” and “Star Trek.” At Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, he majored in theater and dreamed of becoming a Broadway lighting designer.
“When I was in school, I didn’t think of myself as a writing person,” he said.
But make no mistake, Khorram is a writing person now.
He still lives in the Northland and works in lighting design — you might have enjoyed his craftsmanship at Kansas City Symphony concerts, the Country Club Plaza lighting ceremony or other big local events — but he has been laid off because of COVID-19. Khorram said his goal had been to write full time by 2023, but the pandemic has accelerated that timeline.
It was several years and several failed attempts before Khorram found his literary footing. First came screenplays, which he penned after he realized film school wasn’t for him, and then novels.
“I wrote a very crappy young adult book,” he said. “No one got to see it because it was so terrible.”
Eventually, he turned away from his passion for science fiction to try something more personal.
Like Khorram, protagonist Darius Kellner is an Iranian American with a love of tea and “Star Trek” for whom life hasn’t always been easy. But Darius is a teenager living in Portland, Oregon, whose mother is Iranian and whose father is American. Khorram’s parents are the reverse.
The novel follows Darius, who has never really fit in and is on medication for clinical depression. When he and his family take a trip to Iran, Darius meets an Iranian kid named Sohrab, learns about his heritage, and his world changes.
Khorram’s life has had its own transformative moments. He was attending Winnetonka during 9/11 and its aftermath — not a good time to be of Middle Eastern heritage in the United States. He said that classmates picked on him and that his family was afraid at times.
“When I was in college, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “That’s when I felt more animosity from my peers. The first time I got called a terrorist was when I was in college, not in high school.”
Still, he said his high school experience wasn’t terrible. “I think ‘OK’ is probably the best term for it.”
Darius turned 16 in “Darius the Great Is Not Okay” and is entering his junior year in high school in the upcoming sequel, which takes place six months after the conclusion of the first book.
Despite O’Neill’s soggy salad, “Darius the Great Is Not Okay” is filled with humor. Khorram said that was almost a given.
“Being a teen is a very ironic time of life,” he said. “You’re expected to be an adult, but you’re not. It’s kind of impossible to write about being a teenager without being funny.”
The humor will return in the sequel, but Khorram calls it “a very different book, with different themes.” He says Darius has come out as gay and is trying to figure out how he now fits in.
For his part, Khorram faces the daunting task of following up the stunning success of his debut novel. “There’s definitely that fear of the second one not living up to the first one,” he said.
O’Neill said others in the industry have told her the firsts “Darius” “is a very important book.”
“A lot of people I’ve talked to have said they think this book represents what YA literature is right now,” the agent said. “It’s very honest. It takes on tough issues. It’s not an after-school special.”
Praise and awards
Some of the praise lavished on “Darius the Great Is Not Okay”:
▪ “Khorram writes tenderly and humorously about his protagonist’s journey of self-acceptance, making it hard not to want to reach through the pages, squeeze his hand and reassure Darius that he is, in fact, going to be O.K.” — The New York Times
▪ “This is the hilarious and heartbreaking story of Darius: a clinically depressed, half-Persian lonely American teenage Trekkie who heads to Iran for the first time to meet his mom’s family.” — Cosmopolitan
▪ “First-time author Khorram’s coming-of-age novel brings to life the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a culture steeped in tradition. … It shows how a boy who feels like an outcast at home finds himself and true friendship overseas.” — Publishers Weekly
Among the awards “Darius the Great Is Not Okay” earned:
▪ William C. Morris YA Award for first-time authors
▪ Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Young Adult Literature Award
▪ A Time magazine Best YA Book of the Year
▪ A Buzzfeed Best Young Adult Book of the Year
▪ A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book of the Year
▪ A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
