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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Aria Minu-Sepehr will read from "We Heard the Heavens Then," his debut memoir of a boy in revolutionary Iran, on Friday, April 27, at Oregon State University. The book will be available for sale with a signing to follow the reading, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Valley Library rotunda.

Published this month by Simon & Schuster, "We Heard the Heavens Then," recounts the author's privileged boyhood as a son of eminent general in the Imperial Iranian Air Force. Seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old with unusual access to the two poles of his society - modern and traditional - the tale describes the rising tension, collision, and eventual fallout of the country's split as the family is forced into political exile.

"We Heard the Heavens Then" was selected as a Publisher's Weekly "Top 10 Memoir" of Spring 2012.

Minu-Sepehr sought refuge in the United States following the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. He has lectured on issues concerning Iranian culture and U.S. foreign policy, and created and directed the Forum for Middle East Awareness at Susquehanna University, where he taught world and Middle Eastern literature. He lives in Corvallis with his wife, the poet Karen Holmberg, and their two daughters.

Minu-Sepehr's reading and book-signing is sponsored by the proposed OSU School of Writing, Literature and Film and Grass Roots Books and Music.