Each year, Capital University hosts the Mary Catherine Gerhold Annual Lecture in the Humanities in an attempt to “promote peace and human understanding through higher education.” Firoozeh Dumas, a Persian-American writer, was chosen to speak this year.
Born and raised in Iran, Dumas has chosen to use her voice to display the commonalities between members of the human race instead of focusing on the oppression currently encompassing the Middle East.
Dumas grew up listening to her father tell stories about his life in both America and Iran in a household where she was encouraged to try new, “American” things. Listening to her father inspired her to tell her own stories.
She and her family moved to Southern California in the 1970s.
She began writing in 2001, with no experience, in order for her children to have something tangible to read that demonstrated her life. It was around this time that she joined a writing group in California so that she could learn how to properly write a story. Dumas stayed away from talking about oppression, though, because she never felt that way.
“There’s trouble in being Iranian,” Dumas said. Though, this is not what she aims to reveal in her writing. “[But] our commonalities outweigh our differences.”
Dumas spent years attempting to get published but was continually rejected because there was “no market” for her type of writing. She was told by agent after agent that people didn’t want to read about normalcy or humor in the Iranian culture, but about the oppression and dismay.
Dumas’s writing is important for a number of reasons. She is paving the way for writers all across the globe to unapologetically tell their stories: funny, sad, and everything in between. She is showing people that it is okay to be proud of one’s culture, no matter how much scrutiny they may face. Most importantly, she is teaching people to never give up on their dreams. Having no market for Dumas’s stories never stopped her from writing, and now she has books on the bestseller list.
She is best known for her novel Funny in Farsi, which was turned into a sitcom by the American Broadcasting Company. The novel also received praise from President Jimmy Carter, who said that the book was a “…humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love – of family, country, and heritage.”
Laughing Without an Accent and It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel, her other two books, are also doused in humor.
In 2004, Dumas was a finalist for the PEN/USA Award and Audie Award for best audio book in 2005. She was also the first Middle Eastern woman to ever be considered for the Thurber Prize for American Humor, which she was a finalist for. She received the Spirit of America Award from the National Council of Social Studies in 2008.
Since the release of her novels, the books have been used by dozens of communities for for citywide reading programs. In some junior high, high schools, and colleges, Funny in Farsi is part of the curriculum. She has spoken at many conferences in the United States and Europe, now adding Capital to that list.
Dumas currently lives in Munich, Germany with her husband and two of three children. When asked what her favorite part of speaking at conferences was, she responded that “[The] best part is meeting the staff, faculty and students. These people make me feel like the future is going to be fine.”
While there are no promises from Dumas for a fourth book anytime soon, anything could happen, especially from an educated spitfire like herself. All three of Dumas’s novels are currently available in an eBook format through Capital’s library.
