AIAW Member Profiles -- (H)

Tissa Hami was born in Iran, raised in suburban Boston, and lives in San Francisco. She received a BA from Brown University and a dual Master's degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. Tissa is an accomplished stand-up comic and keynote speaker.

She has been featured in media around the world including the Washington Post, Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, BBC World News, Dateline Australia, PBS, NPR, and ABC. Tissa is currently working on a book of humorous essays about her Iranian-American upbringing.


www.tissahami.com

Kianoosh Hashemzadeh

Kianoosh Hashemzadeh writes short stories and essays. She lives in Brooklyn

Born in Abadan, Iran in 1963. Grew up in Abadan and Tehran. Started writing poems at 7 years old. Left Tehran in 1983 for university studies in United States and also to be able to breathe better. Received degrees in Engineering and business and has worked as an engineer for more than 20 years. Started again writing poems, short stories and articles in both English and Persian in 2000. Poetry and articles have been featured on Iranian.com and Persianmirror.com.

Zara Houshmand was born in San Francisco, raised in the Philippines, educated in the UK (with a degree in English Literature from London University), and currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Zara holds multiple passports and few illusions about identity, but is nevertheless proud to be an Iranian. She writes poetry, plays, and fiction. She has also translated Persian literature, edited books on Buddhism and science, directed and designed for theatre, and pioneered the development of virtual reality as an art form.

Her most recent book is A Mirror Garden, co-authored with Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (A.A. Knopf, 2007)