March 13, 2025

How does a person make a career in the arts or academia? “Marry rich” is often the unwelcome suggestion offered by acerbic uncle over holiday dinner, but for faculty member Mariam Rahmani’s unnamed narrator in Liquid: A Love Story, released on March 11 by Algonquin Books, this becomes a true goal. 

The narrator, who recently earned her PhD from UCLA and has already found herself disenchanted with the university system’s unending bureaucracy, resolves to go on one hundred different dates over the summer and return to campus in the fall with an engagement secured.  

“It’s been wonderful to see people respond to the book,” said Rahmani. “This issue of financial precarity and cultural precarity–wondering what’s going to happen to the arts as support for the arts decreases–is something that resonates with a lot of people.”

However, what begins as a playful and snarky initial premise swerves midway through the novel, both in tone and in setting, as a family crisis brings the narrator from Los Angeles to reunite with family in Tehran. 

Conversation Across Cultures

In several ways, Rahmani’s book echoes The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat, which is regarded as the first modern novel in Farsi, first published in 1937 and translated into English in 1957, which also features an unnamed narrator with an Indian mother and an Iranian father.  

“I’m interested in confronting head-on the racism and sexism of that book,” said Rahmani. “Liquid is in conversation with the history of modern Iranian literature, as well as literature in English, particularly the traditions of romance writing and the marriage plot. That overlap was important to me, but unlike my narrator, I don’t share that multicultural experience.” 

While Liquid is Rahmani’s first novel, she is no stranger to the work involved in both original writing and translation.

“I started writing far before I ever translated,” said Rahmani. “There are similarities in terms of craft: my method is always to go through an entire draft and then revise, and revise, and revise. But in terms of what it takes to translate versus what it takes to write, those are similar in some ways, and different in a lot of ways.”

In both writing and translation, Rahmani meticulously concerns herself with how every word and every bit of punctuation affects the overall line of text.  

“Translation is a great way to teach yourself to slow down the writing process by thinking more carefully,” said Rahmani. “However, writing and translation take different things from me emotionally. I’m freer when I’m writing my own work than translating because I’m not beholden to someone else’s text or idea or intention. But it's more taxing, both emotionally and mentally.”

Supporting Creative Growth

At Bennington, Rahmani teaches Literature and Translation. She was drawn to a position at the College because “very few places support a full-time position in translation.”

“It’s wonderful teaching translation; it’s one of my favorite things to teach, so that became my entryway,” said Rahmani. 

Now two years into her time at Bennington, Rahmani has come to appreciate the College’s creative environment and the dedication of its students. 

“It’s great being able to support students who are serious about honing their craft or practice and also are open to new experiences,” said Rahmani. “A lot of the students in my current Advanced Translation Workshop took my Ethical Translation class in fall 2023 without any translation experience and are now doing high-level work. It’s fun to see them grow, and it’s amazing to have students who are trying to grow.”

Beyond the Page

With Liquid now available and a formidable book tour ahead of her, what excites Rahmani the most about her debut is simply new readers finding her book. 

“That’s what’s most exciting to me: the book having a life of its own outside of my personal relationships and my communities, a reader reading the book and my never knowing about it,” said Rahmani.

Within her own circles, though, Rahmani is looking forward to bringing the book back to Los Angeles, where she lived for many years. 

“The narrator’s milieu is mine–restaurants I’ve been to, institutions and cities I know,” said Rahmani. “Liquid, in many ways, is a love letter to Los Angeles.”

At Bennington, Rahmani will be holding several readings, both on campus on April 16 and at the Robert Frost Stone House Museum on May 13. She will also be reading at Northshire Bookstore in nearby Manchester, VT, on April 18. A full list of all book events is available on Rahmani’s website.