The World in Words 39: Persian news, Persian jokes and Persian spies

This podcast is 100 percent Persian. Consider it a primer for the Obama Administration as it sizes up Iran’s leaders. First, a report on the BBC’s new Persian language TV station. Then Persian-language radio from the Voice of Israel. After that, a profile of Iranian-American spy novelist Salar Abdoh. We round things off with writers Firoozeh Dumas (“Laughing Without an Accent”) and Azar Nafisi (“Reading Lolita in Teheran” and “Things I’ve Been Silent About”).