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Pulitzer Prize Winner
  • English by Sanaz Toossi book cover
  • English by Sanaz Toossi book cover
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English

by Sanaz Toossi

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Language, belonging, and what gets lost in translation

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama winner

    The book is described as the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Language, belonging, and what gets lost in translation

Set in a TOEFL class in Karaj, Iran, in 2008, Sanaz Toossi’s play brings four students together under Marjan, an instructor who bars Farsi from the classroom. Their lessons range from translating pop lyrics to untangling English prepositions, but the class also becomes a place to weigh the possibilities of a new language against the ties of a mother tongue. As the students respond differently to learning English, the classroom’s language rules give the play a focused frame for questions of identity, expression, and change.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in contemporary drama centered on language and identity.
  • For those curious about the experience of learning English in an Iranian classroom.
  • For theatergoers interested in plays about the tensions between a mother tongue and a new language.

Themes

Language learningMother tongue and identityTranslationBelonging and change

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Winner! 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama

Winner! 2023 Obie Award for Best New American Play

 

It's 2008 and four Iranians assemble triweekly in a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) class in Karaj Iran. The students are led by Marjan an anglophile who abolishes Farsi from her classroom. They translate Ricky Martin and endure major preposition confusion; they discover how to be funny in English and ponder what they will lose in the process. As the class slowly devolves into a linguistic mess some students cling tighter to their mother tongue while others embrace the possibilities of a new language.

 

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