Breakfast was served after takeoff, and the lights in the cabin were dimmed, and Sid fell asleep right away, while Annette started reading a book. Annette and Sid sat two rows in front of me. It’s funny how a person like me pretends to be unaffected when in the presence of such big name celebrities.Ī few minutes later we all boarded the plane. She was walking toward the coffee counter accompanied by Alfre Woodard and Sid Ganis, all of them in Iran on a cultural exchange program according to the papers. She was smiling, and looked confident with the commanding presence of an Oscar winning actor. On the morning of my return from Iran, I was in the first class lounge of the Airport in Tehran, when I heard a loud group enter the room led, much to my surprise, by Annette Bening, dressed in a long overcoat, a pair of black jeans and a black scarf covering her blond hair. My book was published, a childhood dream had come true – I couldn’t possibly part with it so soon after receiving it in the mail. Of course I have to admit that I loved holding my new book in my hands, feeling it, smelling it, looking at the title on the cover, at my name. When an Advance Reader Copy of Rooftops was sent to me to proofread, I took it along on a trip to Iran, aiming to use the painfully protracted time on the plane to complete my assignment from my editor.

Marshal’s question of who should play my main characters in Rooftops of Tehran, if the book was ever turned into a movie was intriguing to me for a good reason. Here he shares his tale about taking the first step in seeing a novel adapted for the movies-getting it into the hands of a powerful Hollywood player:

His newly released debut novel is Rooftops of Tehran. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where he works as a management consultant. Born in Iran, author Mahbod Seraji came to the United States at the age of 19 and settled in Iowa, where he earned his bachelors, masters and Doctorate degrees from the University of Iowa.

Rooftops of tehran book