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Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh was born in Washington, D.C. to an Iranian father and an American mother. She moved to Iran at age 5 and grew up in Tehran under the Shah. She returned to the U.S. to attend Stanford University, and when the Islamic Revolution started brewing shortly after she graduated, she moved back to Iran and plopped herself down in it. She later received an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. A lifelong English teacher, she has taught in schools and universities on three continents, but her permanent home is a 6-acre farm in Woodstock, GA. Her fiction has been published in numerous publications, including The Georgia Review, Gertrude Press, and Fiction International, and she received an honorable mention for The Best American Short Stories 2018.
"""Zan is a collection of rich, groundbreaking stories which explore the ways that Iranian immigrants struggle to survive under the weight of old customs and the pull of their homeland as they face American possibilities and freedom. Ehtesham-Zadeh is a sophisticated writer with deep understanding and a keen eye for details. The stories in Zan are always nuanced and moving, and ultimately, the book is an uplifting eulogy to the indomitable human spirit."" -Ha Jin, author of Waiting and War Trash ""Zan cuts through prevailing narratives of Middle Eastern womanhood with characters who demand to be seen for who they are—sensuous, political, fierce, and imperfect. These visceral and beautifully wrought stories are brimming with unforgettable detail and vivid imagery that resonates long after the page."" — Maija Mäkinen, author of The Ghosts of Other Immigrants ""This is the required text to understand the slogan Woman, Life, Freedom—a heartbreaking collection of stories about Iranian women that combine into a message much larger than a single country, but expand, like Scheherezade’s tales, to reveal not victimhood but immense and world-changing power."" –Mehrsa Baradaran, author of Color of Money and The Quiet Coup ""A captivating collection that explores the lives of Iranian women balancing cultural expectations with personal ambition, love, and loss. In each one of these stories, we are transported to the inner world of a resilient woman whose company we don’t want to leave. Written with clarity, heart, and refreshing honesty this is a compelling, gorgeous debut."" –Marjan Kamali, bestselling author of The Stationary Shop and The Lion Women of Tehran"
