Sanam Mahloudji was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles after leaving Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Her fiction has won a Pushcart Prize and appears in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, the Kenyon Review, the Idaho Review, Passages North and elsewhere. She was nominated for a 2018 PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers for her first published story.
'As exuberant as it is sharp’ iNEWS 'A sweeping and irreverent tale' BBC 'The word-of-mouth breakout … A funny, unexpected and riotous read, we guarantee The Persians will have you hooked from the first action-filled chapter' Stylist ‘Mahloudji writes with a wisdom and confidence rarely seen in a debut … Multigenerational stories of family anguish and upheaval remain as popular as ever, from … Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and Elif Shafak’s stunning exploration of generational trauma, The Island of Missing Trees. The Persians earns a place alongside these heavyweights’ Guardian 'A wonderful multi-generational family drama with characters you really care about. I'm still thinking about them now. I enjoyed it enormously' Marian Keyes, author of My Favourite Mistake ‘A mesmerising debut that reminds us that our past travels with us … Gorgeously written, with a flair for the comic and characters that dance off the page and into your heart’ Monica Ali, author of Love Marriage ‘An ambitious, glorious feat. Five women's voices become one irresistible whole in this darkly funny, richly satisfying, wonderful debut’ Sarah Winman, author of Still Life ‘At once funny and profound, sprawling and personal, The Persians questions history’s grip on our lives—is it possible to free ourselves from the past, and do we even want to? Gloriously engrossing’ Tash Aw, author of We, The Survivors ‘An epic of intricate and beautiful proportion, The Persians is exuberant, comic and perceptive’ Amina Cain, author of Indelicacy ‘A witty and deeply absorbing saga … at once tragic and hilarious’ Dina Nayeri, author of Who Gets Believed? ‘Filled with heartbreak, humour, and so much love’ Vanessa Chan, author of The Storm We Made ‘Glitzy, gutsy and deliciously dark, a romp with serious things to say’ Samantha Ellis, author of Take Courage ‘Half outrageous, compulsive, shameless; half tender, loving and funny … a very brilliant, very special book’ Jessica Stanley, author of A Great Hope