Responding to increasing interest in books about spiritual issues, Chapters bookstores in Ottawa and Vancouver have been stocking Canadian author Shahrokh Monjazeb’s new book on the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, “Baha’u’llah.” Eight Chapters stores in these two cities now have copies of the book, with a number of additional stores expected to add it to their shelves soon.
The intended audience for the book, according to Monjazeb, are “spiritual seekers”, not academics. Mr. Monjazeb says he hopes to “introduce Baha’u’llah…and allow readers to get connected intimately…with a spiritual luminary.” His book provides not only an overview of Baha’u’llah’s life but also a short anthology of His writings, along with explanatory notes.
The original launch of the book took place at a hotel in the White Rock area of Vancouver in November and drew a crowd of over 60 people, with 50 books being sold that night alone.
Because most bookstores tend only to carry books with big distributors, Furutan Academy, the book’s publisher, has focused its energy on Chapters booksellers as each of their stores is run independently. Mr. Monjazeb in Vancouver, and his colleague Mark Keedwell in Ottawa, have found Chapters store managers to be quite receptive to the book, with most willing to stock 10-20 copies per store.
Since November, a number of Chapters stores have taken up Mr. Monjazeb on his offer to host free author book signing events during which attendees can enjoy a short multimedia presentation highlighting the person of Baha’u’llah. By the end of such events, stores have generally sold out all the “Baha’u’llah” books they have in stock.
.Even without a major distributor, Mr. Monjazeb reports having sold more than 200 copies of the “Baha’u’llah” book, about half of these being sold to readers outside of the Baha’i community.
Though the book is available for purchase online through the Furutan Academy website, Mr. Monjazeb hopes that interested individuals will ask their local Chapters bookstore to carry the book in further support of Canadian authors.