{"id":115580,"date":"2026-09-05T11:14:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T11:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=115580"},"modified":"2026-09-04T18:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:15:58","slug":"dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/","title":{"rendered":"Dua Lipa Just Revealed Her September Book Club Pick \u2014 and It\u2019s One of the Most Talked-About Novels in Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dua Lipa has never treated her Service95 Book Club<\/strong> like a celebrity bookshelf designed for decorative purposes. Since launching it in 2023, her monthly selections have moved freely across countries and genres, with an obvious weakness for books that leave something slightly more complicated behind than a neat ending. September 2026 is no exception. Her latest pick is Martyr!<\/strong><\/em>, the debut novel by Iranian American poet Kaveh Akbar<\/strong>, a book whose title sounds forbiddingly solemn until you discover how funny, restless, and gloriously strange its pages can be. Published in 2024, the novel became a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the National Book Award, confirming Akbar\u2019s leap from acclaimed poet to one of contemporary fiction\u2019s most compelling new voices.<\/p>\n

What Is Martyr!<\/em> About?<\/span><\/h1>\n
\"\"
@service95bookclub<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At its center is Cyrus Shams<\/strong>, a young Iranian American poet newly sober and trying to understand what, exactly, makes a life matter. His mother died aboard Iran Air Flight 655<\/strong>, shot down by the U.S. Navy in 1988 when Cyrus was still an infant, and that inherited loss becomes inseparable from his growing fascination with martyrdom. His search eventually leads him to Orkideh, a terminally ill artist spending her final days as part of a performance at the Brooklyn Museum. From there, Akbar turns questions of death and sacrifice into something far less abstract: a story about the peculiar human need to make suffering mean something.<\/p>\n

Why Dua Lipa Chose Martyr!<\/em> For September<\/span><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Martyr!<\/em> by Kaveh Akbar, $ 10.66<\/a><\/h4>\n

It is easy to see why the novel fits the Dua Lipa Book Club<\/strong> universe. Martyr!<\/em> moves between addiction, exile and art while refusing the respectful hush that often surrounds such subjects. Cyrus can be devastating on one page and genuinely funny on the next, an energy Lipa herself singled out when introducing the September selection. The accompanying Service95 podcast takes the conversation further, with Lipa and Akbar discussing his move from poetry into fiction, the real history woven through Cyrus\u2019s story, and the ways art can give private grief a language. This is hardly a cozy September read to ease yourself back into routine. Then again, perhaps that is precisely the point. New season, new notebook, minor crisis about the meaning of existence. Dua\u2019s book club is officially back in session.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42787,"featured_media":115581,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38],"yoast_head":"\nDua Lipa Just Revealed Her September Book Club Pick \u2014 and It\u2019s One of the Most Talked-About Novels in Years - Grazia USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For September, Dua Lipa\u2019s Service95 Book Club turns to Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar\u2019s acclaimed debut novel about identity and the search for meaning.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dua Lipa Just Revealed Her September Book Club Pick \u2014 and It\u2019s One of the Most Talked-About Novels in Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For September, Dua Lipa\u2019s Service95 Book Club turns to Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar\u2019s acclaimed debut novel about identity and the search for meaning.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T18:15:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2026\/09\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anna Maria Giano\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#\/schema\/person\/7d9ae01fa238788279cacd8399e47e9f\"},\"headline\":\"Dua Lipa Just Revealed Her September Book Club Pick \u2014 and It\u2019s One of the Most Talked-About Novels in Years\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T11:14:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-04T18:15:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/dua-lipa-september-book-club-martyr-kaveh-akbar\/\",\"name\":\"Dua Lipa Just Revealed Her September Book Club Pick \u2014 and It\u2019s One of the Most Talked-About Novels in Years - 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