Shared Humanity through Humor and Story Telling
Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran and moved to Whittier, California at the age of seven.
Dumas grew up listening to her father, a former Fulbright Scholar, recount the many colorful stories of his life. In 2001, with no prior writing experience, Firoozeh decided to write her stories as a gift for her children. Random House published these stories in 2003. Funny in Farsi was on the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists and was a finalist for the PEN/USA award in 2004 and a finalist in 2005 for an Audie Award for best audio book. (She lost to Bob Dylan.) She was also a finalist for the prestigious Thurber Prize for American Humor, the first Middle Eastern woman ever to receive this honor. (She lost that one to Jon Stewart.)
In 2008, Dumas published a second set of stories, Laughing Without an Accent, which also became a New York Times bestseller. In 2016, she published her first book of middle grade fiction, It Ain’t so Awful, Falafel and received high praise from readers of all ages.
Dumas has also written for the New York Times, Gourmet Magazine, Los Angeles Times, and many other outlets and has also been a commentator on National Public Radio. She has spoken at hundreds of schools, conferences and festivals. She believes that everyone has a story to tell and that everyone’s story counts.
Ms. Dumas' Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored with the Friends of Claremont Library.
Photo Credit: Francois Dumas