Dalia Sofer (, born 1972) is an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian-born American writer.

Early life and education

Born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran, she was raised in a Jewish family during revolutionary Iran. At age 11 she moved to New York City. Later she studied French literature at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

with a minor in creative writing. She received an MFA from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

. Her first novel, '' The Septembers of Shiraz'', was published in 2007. A film adaption, starring

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama '' The Pianist'' (2002) becoming the youngest acto ...

and

Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...

in the lead roles, was released in 2015.

Awards and recognition

Sofer is the recipient of the 2008 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for ''The Septembers of Shiraz''. She has also won a 2007

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

for fiction, and has been a resident at

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

Books

* ''The Septembers of Shiraz'' (2007) * ''Man of My Time'' (2020)

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation

1972 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American people of Iranian-Jewish descent Jewish American novelists Writers from Tehran New York University alumni Iranian Jews Sarah Lawrence College alumni 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews Jewish women writers Iranian emigrants to the United States {{US-novelist-1970s-stub