The Children of the Jacaranda Tree: From Birth in Evin Prison to the Green Movement

Sahar Delijani was born in Evin Prison when both her parents were incarcerated for political activities during the 1980s. Her novel, titled "The Children of the Jacaranda Tree," follows events from the prison in the 1980s to the Green Movement and was first written and published in English. It has since been translated into twenty-eight languages and published in seventy-five countries, including in Persian outside of Iran. I spoke with Sahar Delijani: You were born in prison. How much did this influence your decision to tell such a story? To be honest, the story of being born in prison was one of the last stories I wrote and included in the book. The story of my book did not start from that. All these stories from the 1980s were so close to me and part of my family that I never thought I would write them. It started when I accidentally found a bracelet that my father had made from a date pit for me in prison. I had heard these stories but did not know the details. So when I saw the bracelet again, I asked my father about its story, and he told me, and I realized it could be written as a story. I had written two or three chapters of the book when I remembered that perhaps my own birth issue would also be interesting. At that moment, I talked to my mother about it and saw that everything starts with this birth; both in my life—naturally—and in the new history of Iran that begins in 1983, which is actually the year when the last political activists were imprisoned. We, the children born in prison, can prove what events were happening at that time and what oppression and violence existed. How real is your novel and how much of it is fictional? It's a kind of combination. Some of the stories are real or at least inspired by reality, and some are fictional, which again stem from reality. The two chapters that take place in prison are more real than the others because I spoke with my mother to write them and asked all the details. How real are the three main characters, Neda, Omid, and Sheida? It seems that one who was born in prison is you, but do the other two have real counterparts? When I started the book, I had three people in mind. One is me, one is my brother who was two years old when my parents went to prison, and one is my cousin who was also born in prison because my aunt was in prison and her husband was executed. I wanted to start with these three and move forward, but as the novel continued, other children I had heard about entered the story, and their voices became close to me and wanted their stories to be told. However, the character Sheida is completely fictional, and I do not know such a person. This character was important to me because she represents a generation that knows nothing about this incident and the executions. In a way, the book tells the story of two generations: the generation of political activists of the revolution and then the generation of the Green Movement. What similarities do you see between them? The main similarity between these two generations is that both were fighting against a regime. The ideals for which the revolution occurred and the events that followed are two separate things for me. Many of those who revolted did not want such a thing. They wanted freedom and justice. The events of 2009 showed that those ideals are still alive, and the second generation wants the same. How did the Green Movement enter your story? When I started writing the book, it was six or seven months before the elections, and I had no idea that I would finish the book this way. As I continued, the events of 2009 and the Green Movement occurred, and this was a kind of historical coincidence that I could not ignore. It was very important for me because it changed my relationship with my country and my people. When we were in Iran, I felt we were a minority behind closed doors. At school, I was always afraid to get close to other children and accidentally say that my mother had been in prison. We lived somewhat separately. I thought others were somehow going along with the regime. But with the events of 2009, I saw that all the people came to our side. For me, it was reconciling, and after that, I reconciled with my people. Young people risked their lives for those same ideals. The reflections of the book have been very positive; how come you haven't presented anything new during this time? I traveled to various places around the world for this book and talked about it. I found it interesting to speak about things we had lived in silence for a lifetime. This brought a special satisfaction for me and my family. I am currently writing my second work. I have written more than half of it. This novel also takes place in the 1980s in Iran. I can say it is somewhat a sequel to the previous book. This book is about the time after being released from the prison of the 1980s; the return of these people home to children who do not know their parents well.