Gustato spiritu, desipit omnis caro.
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
































Kira Salak in Iran


Service for Women is Forbidden-- In Iran, women are barred from entering certain places (this is based solely on the prejudice of male owners and has nothing to do with religion). Women were prohibited from going inside this cafe in Isfahan, but I decided I'd enter it anyway--just to see what would happen. The men inside were, to put it mildly, very unhappy with me.

Photos of Iran


Kira Hiking in "Hejab"-- I was required to completely cover my body with "hejab" (a long black gown, head scarf, and pants) while hiking, even though it was over 100F degrees. While crossing rivers, I couldn't pull up my pants legs, which would have meant exposing leg skin.

Photos of Iran


Camping in the Valley of the Assassins

Photos of Iran
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Behind the Chador-- Many Iranian women in Tehran were very fashion-conscious. In their private homes, they could shed the "hejab" and wear whatever they wanted.

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Among the Lur People-- I was the first Western journalist to visit the nomadic Lur tribe of northwestern Iran. Of Kurdish ancestry, they maintained a fierce identity separate from that of other Iranians. (Note the more liberal, traditional dress of the women.)

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Scenes of Iran

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Kira Salak's "The White Mary"

THE WHITE MARY
by Kira Salak

"A gripping debut novel."
Publishers Weekly Pick-of-the-Week


"There aren't many books that we hand to friends, urging,
'You have to read this.' The White Mary is one of them."
Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Riveting."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"With The White Mary, journalist Kira Salak makes a stunning
debut as a novelist. This is a story whose beauty and power
sweeps you along, like the jungle rivers that bear her heroine
into the heart of New Guinea in search of a vanished American."

--Philip Caputo