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Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tina McGovern 415-749-3600 ext. 19, outreach@gatewayhigh.org
Firoozeh Dumas chosen as 7th annual Matters of the Mind Luncheon Speaker
May 25th, 2009
Gateway is proud to announce this year's Matters of the Mind luncheon speaker will be the best selling author Firoozeh Dumas, author of FUNNY IN FARSI. The luncheon will take place at Gateway High School on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.
Past speakers include: Dr. Mel Levine, Tony Kushner, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Lewis, David Sheff and Tobias Wolff.
Ms. Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran and moved to Whittier, California at the age of seven. After a two-year stay, she and her family moved back to Iran and lived in Ahvaz and Tehran. Two years later, they moved back to Whittier, then to Newport Beach. Firoozeh then attended UC Berkeley where she met and married a Frenchman.
Firoozeh 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 SF Chronicle and LA 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. Unfortunately, she lost that one to Jon Stewart. Even though, as Firoozeh’s dad likes to point out, Jon Stewart wrote his book with a team of writers, while Firoozeh wrote hers, alone, before her children woke up for school.
Critics and readers of all ages have loved her stories. Jimmy Carter called Funny in Farsi, “A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love—of family, country and heritage.”
Orange County Reads One Book (California) selected Funny in Farsi for Community Reads 2004, the City of Whittier (California) in 2005, Cape Ann, (Massachusetts)) in 2006, Palo Alto and Berkeley (California) in 2006, and Dayton, (Ohio), Lamorinda, (California) Wood Dale, Ithasca and Bensensille,(Illinois) in 2008 and Brentwood (California) in 2009. Funny in Farsi is now on the California Recommended Reading List and is used in many junior high, high schools and universities across the country. You may have also heard Firoozeh’s commentaries on NPR or read her pieces in the NY Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Gourmet, SF Chronicle or Lifetime Magazine.
For the past five years, Firoozeh has traveled the country reminding us that our commonalities far outweigh our differences…and doing so with humor. She has spoken in conferences, schools, universities, churches, Jewish Temples and Islamic centers. Her travels have taken her from the East Coast to the West Coast, from Harvard University to UCLA. Everywhere she has gone, audiences have embraced her message of shared humanity and invited her back for more.
The Persian version of Funny in Farsi is currently one of the bestselling books in Iran and ABC has optioned Funny in Farsi for a sit com. Firoozeh’s second book, Laughing Without an Accent, a series of autobiographical essays, was published by Random House in May 2008.
For more information on corporate sponsorship or table sales please email our Director of Development Tina McGovern at tmcgovern@gatewayhigh.org. or by calling 415-749-3600 x 19.
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