Camel Jockey Go Home is a chuckle a minute memoir by an Iranian ‘expat’ who, armed with a degree in Street Theatre from London, lands in Salt Lake City just in time for the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

It is the true story of Payman Jahanbin, who finds himself teaching American English (as in grammar) to American kids, in The Salt Lake City School District immediately following the 444 days of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  It is a gut-funny, colorful, first person narrative of a Persian ‘blue blood’ beginning in his early 20’s, navigating a new life and career in The Mormon Zion, Utah

Sharp-tongued political commentary juxtaposes the petty politics of the Mormon community and the “corrupt old Muslim thugs” that "took over my country". The reader experiences the Iranian revolution and the Iran Iraq war and subsequent purges as it unfolds from the perspective of an American Iranian as well as its victims.

A giddiness seeps through the narrative from the knowledge that his cynical assault on everything sacred would, in his former country, earn the Author a stoning at best.

Camel Jockey Go Home reflects our Americanism back at us like a blinding light. It contains some of the most amazing stories of our time, told by people displaced and uprooted from every corner of the world.  Payman does more than just teach them English. He helps them heal and become their own storytellers.

Camel Jockey Go Home 5.26.2010