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WORK TITLE: Down and Across
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.arvinahmadi.com/
CITY: Brooklyn
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
Agent: Tina Wexler, TWexler@ICMPartners.com
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in VA.
EDUCATION:Columbia University, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked briefly as research assistant at China Business Centre, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as summer associate at AOL Ventures, as portfolio intern with TDF Ventures, and as program manager at Microsoft office in the Boston, MA area, between 2010 and 2013; Ivy Council, president, 2013-14; Yext, New York, NY, product manager, 2014-16.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Arvin Ahmadi was born in northern Virginia and raised not far from the nation’s capital. His childhood in an Iranian-American family offered him first-hand experience in the conflict zone where the anxieties of parents with high expectations for their children can challenge the self-confidence of children under pressure to meet those expectations. Ahmadi worked briefly in Hong Kong before returning to the United States in 2012. He moved among a variety of short-term jobs until 2014, when he became a product manager for Yext, a technology company based in New York City. Then he decided to turn his experiences–his ups and downs–into a story that might offer inspiration to other young people in a state of what he describes as constant uncertainty. Down and Across mirrors Ahmadi’s own journey toward a purpose in life.
In Down and Across, teenager Scott Ferdowsi faces a crossroads in the summer of his sixteenth year. His hardworking Iranian-American parents want the best possible future for their son, while the youth has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Indecision has become his watchword. He drifts from one project to another without completing any of them. His father offers Scott a nudge by finding him a summer internship at a local scientific laboratory, but the analysis of mouse droppings fails to inspire any sense of excitement or commitment in the conflicted teen.
Scott knows that he has a problem with tenacity. The pursuit of “grit” is his latest project. He becomes a fan of psychology professor Cecily Mallard and her message that grit is the key to prosperity. When his parents are called back to Iran for a family crisis, leaving him home alone, Scott sees it as the perfect opportunity to take control of his life.
Professor Mallard teaches at George Washington University, a mere bus ride away. Scott abandons his internship in Philadelphia and heads for Washington, DC, hoping to land a job with the professor. He will work for free, if only she can unlock the door to his future. Aboard the bus, Scott meets a young woman who may hold an even more valuable key to success.
Fiora Buchanan is on her way to the same university. The college student also happens to be a cruciverbalist, or crossword puzzle expert, who uses her hobby to help her deal with her own issues of anxiety, depression, and uncertainty. Fiora was described by Katie Ward Beim-Esche in her Christian Science Monitor review as a “Mixed-Up Daredevil Bohemian Barbie” who finds her greatest insights on life in the down-and-across clues of crossword puzzles. In line with her dedication to words, she insists on calling Scott by his birth name Saaket, a Hindi reference to Lord Krishna, and she appoints herself his personal life counselor and tour guide.
Fiora introduces Scott to the nation’s capital and her quirky circle of friends. One of them is Trent, a gay Southern bartender with Libertarian political aspirations. In a Weekend Saturday interview excerpted at National Public Radio Online, Ahmadi said: “It was important for me to represent not just diversity of skin color or culture but a diversity of interests and backgrounds.” That is also one of the reasons that his main character is a teenager with Iranian-American parents and a cultural legacy much like his own.
Professor Mallard urges Scott to put failures behind him as he pursues his ultimate goals. Fiora teaches him to pave the road to success with random adventures: “a sequence of misadventures and serendipitous encounters,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. He moves into a hostel, for example, becomes a participant in a high-speed bicycle chase, crashes a party for diplomats, invites a total stranger on a date, and learns how to sneak into a bar. Each time he moves beyond a familiar mile-marker, he grows a bit. “You can practically feel Scott growing taller and standing straighter,” Beim-Esche observed. Step by step, he begins to visualize an image of the man he wants to be.
Reviewers enjoyed Ahmadi’s debut novel. Beim-Esche called Down and Across “clever, brash, and punchy, rife with good advice and incisive commentary about parents’ expectations.” School Library Journal contributor Morgan O’Reilly also noted Ahmadi’s authentic depiction of the “pressures placed on a child of immigrant parents.”
Mary Quattlebaum predicted in the Washington Post that “this humorous, deeply human coming-of-age story will connect with teens.” In BookPage, Sarah Weber observed that “Scott’s uncertainty, and his panic over that uncertainty, will resonate with high school readers.” Shirley Yan, a teen reviewer in Voice of Youth Advocates, called it “utterly confusing, yet utterly satisfying.”
Though Booklist commentator Sarah Hunter mentioned some over-reliance “on coincidence” in the plot line, she found Down and Across to be “a smart story” of “multifaceted personalities with an engaging dynamic.” O’Reilly commented that the book deals with “issues of racism, mental health, and sexism in an appropriate and candid manner.” Brian Truitt observed in USA Today that Ahmadi “successfully fashions a universal story of discovering one’s true self through the honest eyes of another.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2017, Sarah Hunter, review of Down and Across, p. 55.
BookPage, February, 2018, Sarah Weber, review of Down and Across, p. 27.
Christian Science Monitor, February 16, 2018, Katie Ward Beim-Esche, review of Down and Across.
Publishers Weekly, October 16, 2017, review of Down and Across, p. 68.
School Library Journal, December, 2017, Morgan O’Reilly, review of Down and Across, p. 105.
USA Today, February 19, 2018, Brian Truitt, review of Down and Across, p. 7B.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2017, Shirley Yan, review of Down and Across, p. 50.
Washington Post, February 5, 2018, Mary Quattlebaum, review of Down and Across.
ONLINE
Arvin Ahmadi Website, https://www.arvinahmadi.com (March 9, 2018).
National Public Radio Website, https://www.npr.org/ (January 27, 2018), Scott Simon, transcript of author interview broadcast by Weekend Edition Saturday.
Contact
Agent:
Tina Wexler
TWexler@ICMPartners.com
Publicist:
Lily Yengle
LYengle@penguinrandomhouse.com
Official Bio
Arvin Ahmadi grew up outside Washington, DC. He graduated from Columbia University and has worked in the tech industry. When he's not reading or writing books, he can be found watching late-night talk show interviews and editing Wikipedia pages. Down and Across is his first novel.
A Puzzled Teen Seeks Answers And Finds Crosswords In 'Down And Across'
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January 27, 20188:21 AM ET
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Scott Simon
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Down and Across
Down and Across
by Arvin Ahmadi
Hardcover, 288 pages purchase
In Arvin Ahmadi's debut novel Down And Across, 16-year-old Scott Ferdowsi hasn't quite figured out what he wants to do with his life. That worries his Iranian-American parents, who believe their son lacks grit and doesn't take advantage of the opportunities they work hard to give him.
"He's tried every club at school, switches his future path every five seconds, [and] he can't quite nail down what that future path will look like," Ahmadi says.
Hoping to find his purpose in life, Scott quits his perfectly good summer internship and hightails it to Washington, D.C., a city of ambitious young people working as bartenders and crossword-puzzle writers on their way to becoming lobbyists and legislators.
Interview Highlights
On Scott's relationship to his parents
His parents are tricky because the opening chapter, the opening scene, is an argument between Scott and his dad, you know, who he finds to be overbearing. And his dad is trying to compromise. And Scott, of course, takes that little bit of compromise that his parents are leaving him home alone for a few weeks, and he abuses it. He runs away from home, and I think that's the struggle with his parents, that they're trying. And even as a teenager, you know, maybe you hate your parents, maybe you're just constantly irked by them, but I think when you grow up or even when you really think about it, you realize that they're trying and they want the best for you.
On how much the author draws on his own experience as the son of immigrants
This story is very autobiographical. I mean, it was inspired when I saw a real-life TED Talk by a real-life professor, Angela Duckworth, about grit. And it inspired me, and it terrified me, and so I created this fictional version of her and had Scott run away to meet her.
When I first started writing this story, it was inspired partly by that grit TED Talk but also by a couple of my failures. And so when I first started writing Down and Across, Scott was Jack, and he was not Iranian. And then I, you know, eventually I made him half-Indian, half-white so that I could inject some of my experiences in there, the son of immigrants. And, you know, finally I decided, "Screw it, I'm going to make this an authentic story about my experiences growing up and struggling with failure and my future path."
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On the author's struggles with failure, even as an involved high school student and Columbia University graduate
Deep down, I constantly had impostor syndrome. I think it was this constant self-doubt and just uncertainty about my future, and I think we're seeing more stories like that in a lot of different mediums, how on the surface a person may appear one way but underneath the surface they are a lot more complicated, and there's this self-doubt. ... It's not a story that we [see] very much among diverse folks, among marginalized folks, among women, among people of color, [and] people from different sexualities. So I think we're getting those classic stories now but re-purposed in a diverse sense.
On the author's own experience of running away as a teenager
Because I was a dramatic teenager, I escaped through the window and left it open, so they knew I had run away. But now, I admire Scott's tenacity and I think it's a lesson for us all that we're shaped by our experiences and that we should be willing to take risks — maybe not necessarily running away, especially as teenagers, but [to] do things outside of our comfort zone.
On the people Scott meets when he runs away to Washington, D.C. [web-extra]
I think they're all colorful characters at their core. <
Sophia Schmidt and Martha Ann Overland produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Sydnee Monday and Patrick Jarrenwattananon adapted it for the Web.
Ahmadi
Experience
Penguin Random House
Author
Company Name Penguin Random House
Dates Employed May 2016 – Present Employment Duration 1 yr 11 mos
Debut novel DOWN AND ACROSS to be published by Viking/Penguin in
January 2018.
Currently working on my untitled second novel, a story about VR and
teens in Palo Alto, to be published by Viking/Penguin in 2019.
Yext
Product Manager
Company Name Yext
Dates Employed Mar 2014 – Nov 2016 Employment Duration 2 yrs 9 mos
Location Greater New York City Area
GeoMarketing.com, Xone, and Yext Reviews
The Ivy Council
President
Company Name The Ivy Council
Dates Employed Apr 2013 – Apr 2014 Employment Duration 1 yr 1 mo
Microsoft
Program Manager
Company Name Microsoft
Dates Employed May 2013 – Aug 2013 Employment Duration 4 mos
Location Greater Boston Area
TDF Ventures
Portfolio Intern
Company Name TDF Ventures
Dates Employed Dec 2012 – Jan 2013 Employment Duration 2 mos
Location Washington D.C. Metro Area
AOL Ventures
Summer Associate
Company Name AOL Ventures
Dates Employed Jun 2012 – Aug 2012 Employment Duration 3 mos
Location Greater New York City Area
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Research Assistant at the China Business Centre
Company Name Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dates Employed Dec 2010 – Jan 2011 Employment Duration 2 mos
Location Hong Kong
Education
Columbia University in the City of New York
Degree Name BA
Field Of Study Computer Science, Political Science
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology
'Down and Across' is a lively YA debut starring a self-doubting teen and a crossword-puzzle lover
Katie Ward Beim-Esche
The Christian Science Monitor. (Feb. 16, 2018): Arts and Entertainment:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Christian Science Publishing Society
http://www.csmonitor.com/About/The-Monitor-difference
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Byline: Katie Ward Beim-Esche
In Down and Across, the crossword-themed young adult debut from Arvin Ahmadi, a teenager grapples with his own insecurities and struggles to live up to his parents' expectations.
Flake, dabbler, dilettante, commitment-phobe, goldfish - call him what you will, Saaket "Scott" Ferdowsi is the poster boy for decision fatigue and self-doubt. Everything he's tried, he's quit: hobbies, instruments, goals, even bowls of cereal.
His parents, both Iranian immigrants, wish he could buckle down and build his future, brick by brick. Since Scott apparently is incapable of passion or perseverance, his dad takes the reins.
The summer before Scott's senior year, Mr. Ferdowsi sets up an internship at a university lab, where Scott is to perform laboratory rodent fecal analysis. ("Mouse poop," Scott declares flatly.) When his parents fly to Iran to take care of a family health crisis, Scott stays behind for the internship.
One night, he goes on a Wikipedia spiral about Georgetown professor Cecily Mallard, grit-ologist and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (commonly known as a "Genius Grant"). "The single most reliable predictor of success is grit," she preaches. Keep grinding on long-term goals, even when you fail.
Scott becomes obsessed. "Grit became my magic potion: the cure to my constantly sidetracked train of thought," he raves. "It was the gigantic anvil that would squash all my insecurities and pave the way for the rest of my life."
Within days, he bails on the internship and hops a bus from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., planning to ambush Professor Mallard and get her gritty advice.
On the bus ride, he meets Fiora Buchanan, a GWU student and aspiring crossword constructor. Fiora, in her own way, is flailing and failing. She's an interesting character who ultimately fell flat for me; more on that later.
Scott convinces Mallard to take him on as an unpaid, unofficial researcher, compiling bios of gritty historical figures while she writes her next book. At one point, Mallard admonishes Scott for viewing failure as a permanent state.
"Why would you get hung up over ... anything else you might have failed at?" Mallard asks. "Everybody fails. We deal with failure and disappointment and other feelings that are far more damaging. That's how you grow." It's an excellent lesson for readers of all ages.
Ahmadi gives Scott a witty and self-conscious inner monologue. In a particularly funny turn, Scott's thoughts turn all-caps upon entering a deafening basement nightclub.
By week three of four, <
Now, let's talk about Fiora Buchanan. Though her bartender friend Trent, the Southern Political Aspirant Ken to her <
"I couldn't resist imagining my life as one of those coming-of-age movies," Scott daydreams on the bus, "and Fiora as the quirky, two-dimensional female character, written in solely to help me discover my full potential. The idea was nice."
Sorry, Mr. Ahmadi, but I'm calling it. When a male protagonist describes a female character thus - when he calls her a "caricature of a real person" with a "free-spirited, life-is-an-adventure-so-carpe-freaking-diem perspective" - and when she seems to exist only for the guy's purposes, I hold up an MPDG red card.
That being said, I'm an avid cruciverbalist, and a crossword-centric plot with a Will Shortz epigraph was too dreamy to ignore. Fiora draws beautiful parallels between human lives and crossword puzzles.
"The thing about life is we don't get to draw the grid; we take the rows and columns we're given," she says. "What we do get to do is fill the cells. And rather than filling mine with anxiety over medical school or Greek politics - instead of feeling trapped by my circumstance - I fill them with arbitrary words."
Consider this a sort of teenage "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" or "Along Came Polly." (Apparently Ben Stiller should star in a movie version of this book.) "Down and Across" is <
Due to scenes with underage drinking, drug use, and language, "Down and Across" is best reserved for older readers.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Beim-Esche, Katie Ward. "'Down and Across' is a lively YA debut starring a self-doubting teen and a crossword-puzzle lover." Christian Science Monitor, 16 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527888144/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5da96507. Accessed 3 Mar. 2018.
Book World: 'Love' and other best children's and YA books to read this month
Kathie Meizner, Abby McGanney Nolan and Mary Quattlebaum
The Washington Post. (Feb. 5, 2018): News:
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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Byline: Kathie Meizner, Abby McGanney Nolan and Mary Quattlebaum
[...]
The pressure is building for rising senior Saaket "Scott" Ferdowsi in "Down and Across" (Viking, age 12 and up), a lively first novel by Arvin Ahmadi. Scott's successful immigrant father wants him to plan college around a "safe-enough" field like engineering or medicine, but the lackadaisical 16-year-old fears disappointing his dad with yet another failure. So when his parents set off for a month-long trip to Iran, Scott ditches his "virtuous science-y" summer internship in Philadelphia for a bus ticket to Washington. He hopes to learn more about "grit," that quality of tenacity that has always eluded him, from a foremost expert, who teaches at Georgetown. The setting offers a tantalizing glimpse of the nation's capital through teen eyes - a refreshing change from New York City, the usual haunt of young people with big questions, from beleaguered Holden in "The Catcher in the Rye" to Natasha and Daniel in "The Sun Is Also a Star." Scott is soon swept up in the schemes of college student Fiora, a quirky cruciverbalist (aka a crossword puzzle ace) bent on helping him find adventure. But even as Scott settles into a hostel, meets Fiora's friends and crashes a diplomatic party, he begins to realize that Fiora's dark struggles surpass his own. Although the book's female characters sometimes seem less developed than their male counterparts, <
- Mary Quattlebaum
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Meizner, Kathie, et al. "Book World: 'Love' and other best children's and YA books to read this month." Washington Post, 5 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526366542/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6017b7c0. Accessed 3 Mar. 2018.
Distant worlds, close friends beckon
Brian Truitt
USA Today. (Feb. 19, 2018): Lifestyle: p07B.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/
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Byline: Brian Truitt USA TODAY
Had enough of dystopian young-adult fare? USA TODAY checks out four new titles for teens, from a galactic saga to love stories to a mystery featuring literature's best new private eye.
[...]
Down and Across
By Arvin Ahmadi
Viking, 336 pp.
John Green fans will appreciate Down and Across (***), the tale of Philadelphia high-schooler Scott Ferdowski and his runaway adventure in Washington, D.C., to find direction in his life. A noncommittal sort who gets turned on to the concept of having "grit," Scott ditches his research internship when his parents travel to Iran to tend to a sick family member. Instead, he ventures off to find a Georgetown psychology professor of note and along the way befriends mercurial college student Fiona Buchanan. A twist on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, Fiona creates crossword puzzles and is apt to just disappear at the drop of a hat. But she takes a special interest in Scott, becoming one of the few people who calls him by his birth name Sakeet. Ahmadi surrounds this twosome with a bunch of comedic situations and<< successfully fashions a universal story of discovering one's true self through the honest eyes of another.>>
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Truitt, Brian. "Distant worlds, close friends beckon." USA Today, 19 Feb. 2018, p. 07B. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528248993/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=35dc361f. Accessed 3 Mar. 2018.