Book-A-Table presents Dinner at the Gallery

What Does It Mean to Die for Something?

What makes a death meaningful - and what does it cost to build your life around that question?

This June, Book-A-Table sits down with Kaveh Akbar's extraordinary debut novel, Martyr! At its heart is Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American poet in recovery, drifting through his twenties and obsessed with martyrdom. He is compiling a book of figures who made their deaths mean something, and quietly wondering whether he might belong among them.

Akbar, one of the most celebrated poets of his generation, brings the precision and lyricism of poetry to every sentence - careening between the surreal and the achingly real, between dark philosophy and genuine wit. This grief-soaked, metaphysical, and unexpectedly funny novel takes us through dream dialogues between unlikely companions, a dying Iranian performance artist spending her final days in a Brooklyn museum, and so much more. 

The food we serve will reflect Cyrus's two worlds. Expect a menu that travels between Iran and America - saffron and sumac alongside something heartier and homespun, the flavours of a culture carried across an ocean and quietly adapted to a new life. Themed beverages will draw from both traditions, with Persian-inspired mocktails and cocktails woven through the evening. 

Over a shared table, we'll ask what the novel asks of us: How do we make meaning out of loss without turning suffering into spectacle? What do we owe to the dead - and to ourselves? And what does it look like, finally, to choose life?

This is an intimate gathering, with 12 to 15 guests per seating, because the best conversations happen at a small table.