Porochista Khakpour
Porochista Khakpour | |
---|---|
essayist, journalist | |
Education | Sarah Lawrence College (BA) Johns Hopkins University (MA) |
Genre | |
Years active | 2000–present |
Notable works | Sons and Other Flammable Objects The Last Illusion Sick Brown Album |
Website | |
www |
Porochista Khakpour (
A refugee from
She is the author of four books, including her 2007 debut novel Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007). Her nonfiction essays have been published in The New York Times, Guernica, Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Paris Review Daily, Slate, Elle, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.[4]
Early life
Khakpour was born on January 17, 1978, in
Her parents, Manijeh and Asha Khakpour, met while working together at the
Khakpour has described herself as an “infant of the
Khakpour has written of her family’s life as a “riches-to-rags” story.[15] When Khakpour’s family first arrived in the United States, they lived in a hotel on Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles; she played daily in nearby MacArthur Park.[16] Her family made their way to the San Gabriel Valley, briefly living in Monterey Park[17] and Alhambra[18] before finally moving into a two-bedroom, one-bathroom dingbat apartment in South Pasadena, where Khakpour grew up.[19] Until age 17, Khakpour shared a small bedroom with her younger brother.[20]
Her family was “one of a few isolated lower-middle-class Iranian families” in South Pasadena, far away from the affluent
Education
Khakpour grew up as the only Iranian at her elementary school, middle school, and high school.[23] She was the editor-in-chief of her high school newspaper,[24] graduating from South Pasadena High School in 1996.[25]
Khakpour received a Hearst Scholarship to attend
In 2001, Khakpour was living in the
Khakpour received her MA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars program in 2003, where she studied under Stephen Dixon and Alice McDermott.[36]
After graduating from Hopkins, Khakpour was named a 2003 fellow of the academy for Alternative Journalism at
Career
Writing
Before publishing her first novel, Khakpour worked as a journalist, covering arts and entertainment as well as producing in-depth
At age 29, Khakpour published her debut novel,
In 2011, she was the guest editor of Guernica's first Iranian-American issue,[52] curating works from writers including Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Azadeh Moaveni, Nahid Rachlin, Hooman Majd, Roger Sedarat, and Sholeh Wolpé.[53]
Khakpour's second novel, The Last Illusion, was released on May 13, 2014.
In 2018, she published Sick, a "memoir of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction, and the myth of full recovery."
In 2019,
In 2020, Khakpour published her fourth book, an essay collection entitled Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity, as a Vintage Original from
Teaching
After completing her MA at Johns Hopkins University in 2003, she was named an Eliott Coleman Fellow and taught creative writing as a lecturer at Hopkins.[75]
Between 2008 and 2010, Khakpour was a
From 2014 to 2017, Khakpour taught at
Khakpour has held adjunct appointments at Columbia University, Fordham University, and Wesleyan University.[83] She was guest faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine.[84]
Influences
Khakpour credits
She is close friends with the Chinese avant-garde writer, Can Xue, who she regards as a mentor,[90] “one of my most treasured inspirations and models”,[91] and "the greatest living writer on earth".[92] In 2015, after nominating Can Xue for the
Awards and recognition
Khakpour is a recipient of the 2012 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing (Prose).[95] Khakpour has also received fellowships from the Sewanee Writers' Conference, Northwestern University, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Ucross Foundation, Yaddo and Djerassi.[96] Her work has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.[97]
She was on the jury of the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction 2018.[98]
Personal life
Khakpour was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease in 2012.[99]
Khakpour identifies as
Khakpour currently lives in Queens.[103]
Works
- The Last Illusion, London: Bloomsbury, 2016. OCLC 990147921
- Sick: A Memoir, New York: Harper Collins, 2017.
- Frontier (by ISBN 978-1940953540
- ISBN 9780349700373. The first essay is by Porochista Khakpour.
- Parsnips in Love, Amazon Original Stories, 2019.
- Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity, New York: Vintage, 2020. ISBN 9780525564713
- Better Than Sane: Tales from a Dangling Girl (by Alison Rose), ISBN 978-1-56792-775-7
References
- ^ Scholes, Lucy (3 August 2018). "Sick by Porochista Khakpour — a gripping account of illness". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ O'Dea, Meghan. "Author Porochista Khakpour on traveling and identity". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ Leach, Diane (13 July 2018). "On Porochista Khakpour's 'Sick', or, When Marginal Identifiers Are No Excuse, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Other Writing". porochistakhakpour.com. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Tehran, Virtual Embassy (1 January 2015). "Porochista Khakpour". U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ Rashedi, Roxanne Naseem (17 February 2013). "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Lee, Wendy (1 July 2020). "Porochista Khakpour and the Refugee's Continued Journey". Asian American Writers' Workshop. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (30 January 2017). "How can I be a refugee twice?". CNN. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Malik, Zubeida (26 March 2013). "The man who turned Iran nuclear". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Scholes, Lucy (3 August 2018). "Sick by Porochista Khakpour — a gripping account of illness". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Liu, Max (9 January 2015). "Porochista Khakpour, interview: The Iranian novelist on her love". The Independent. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Nasrabadi, Manijeh (19 February 2010). "Children of the Revolution". Hyphen Magazine. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Sultan, Iman. "Being brown in America: Stories of exile, identity, and belonging". Middle East Eye.
- ^ Porochista Khakpour [@pkhakpour] (July 30, 2021). "When we first came to America we lived in a hotel in Skid Row. I played in MacArthur Park daily" (Tweet) – via Twitter.,
- ^ Slater, Ann Tashi (21 July 2020). "Porochista Khakpour: I've Become Uninterested in Darkness". Guernica. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (19 March 2011). "Opinion | Ringing In the Year 1390". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Shengold, Nina. "Porochista Khakpour: Winged Victory". Chronogram Magazine. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Moore, Sandra (10 June 2015). "Seniors' last celebration before graduation". Tiger Newspaper. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- Poets & Writers Magazine(Vol. 38, Issue 2) (Interview). Interviewed by Porochista Khakpour. Boston, Massachusetts: Poets & Writers, Inc.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (7 July 2017). "How Losing a Best Friend Inspired a Novel About the Bonds Between Women". ELLE. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Porochista Khakpour [@pkhakpour] (April 27, 2021). "I wrote hundreds of pages on Hopkins—obsessed—and Bernard said I should stay at Oxford!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.,
- ^ Tehran, Virtual Embassy (1 January 2015). "Porochista Khakpour". U.S. Virtual Embassy Iran. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (28 August 2011). "Today is a Sunny Day". Granta. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Hurn, Rachel (26 June 2014). "'The Last Illusion,' by Porochista Khakpour". SFGATE.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (17 December 2014). "The top 10 novels about 9/11". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (11 September 2010). "Opinion | My Nine Years as a Middle-Eastern American". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (24 May 2022). "Life Goals: A Q&A With Elif Batuman". Poets & Writers.
- ^ "AAJ Fellows Named • Association of Alternative Newsmedia". Association of Alternative Newsmedia. 23 May 2003. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Porochista Khakpour [@pkhakpour] (June 2, 2021). "This was my last investigative feature. 2004, the cover of the Chicago Reader, on a skydiving cult essentially. I had to be undercover through a lot" (Tweet) – via Twitter.,
- ^ ""I've been called everything": Porochista Khakpour". Exberliner. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (1 April 2004). "Look Before You Leap". Chicago Reader.
- ^ ""I've been called everything": Porochista Khakpour". Exberliner. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ "Porochista Khakpour". Big Think. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Other Writing". porochistakhakpour.com. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Gould, Emily (11 September 2007). "'Sons And Other Flammable Objects' Book Party". Gawker.
- S2CID 240547754.
- ^ "Editor's Choice". The New York Times. 16 September 2007.
- ^ "The California Book Awards Winners 1931 - 2012" (PDF). Commonwealth Club. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ Evitts Dickinson, Elizabeth. "Johns Hopkins Magazine". pages.jh.edu. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Maria Serena, Palieri. ""Americani scoprite l'Iran che si nasconde in mezzo a voi"" (PDF). l'Unità. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "The Situation in American Writing: Porochista Khakpour". Full Stop. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (1 November 2011). "The Others". Guernica. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "THE LAST ILLUSION | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 978-1620403044.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (17 June 2014). "Inspiration Information: "The Last Illusion"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Hoby, Hermione (27 December 2014). "The Last Illusion review – Porochista Khakpour's audacious coming-of-age novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Liu, Max (9 January 2015). "Porochista Khakpour, interview: The Iranian novelist on her love". The Independent. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Diamond, Jason (27 December 2013). "Flavorwire's 15 Most Anticipated Books of 2014". Flavorwire. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Most Anticipated: The Great 2014 Book Preview". The Millions. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "30 New Books You NEED To Read In 2014". HuffPost. 7 January 2014.
- ^ Zorzor, Corina (22 July 2014). ""Ultima iluzie", un nou volum despre tragedia de la 11 septembrie 2001". adevarul.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Sick". porochistakhakpour.com. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Gutterman, Annabel (28 August 2018). "The Best Memoirs of 2018 So Far". Time. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Sick - Porochista Khakpour". Harper Academic. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ Porochista Khakpour (22 June 2018). "Your favorite newspapers and magazines". The Week via PressReader. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Memoirs of Disease and Disbelief". The New Yorker. 28 May 2018.
- ^ "Interview: Porochista Khakpour, author of Sick: 'It's more convenient to treat patients as crazy'". The Guardian. 28 July 2018.
- ^ "Sick by Porochista Khakpour - Canongate Books". canongate.co.uk.
- ^ A gyógyulás útja (Porochista Khaoukpur) (in Hungarian). Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Best sellers in Prime Reading". Amazon. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Penguin Random House, The Brown Album, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/598265/brown-album-by-porochista-khakpour/
- ^ Wabuke, Hope. "'Brown Album' Centers On The Erasure Of Race In American Culture". National Public Radio. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "'Brown Album' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020". Time. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Kernan, John. "Double reading impresses writing students". The Johns Hopkins News-Letter. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Bucknell University 2010-11 Catalog" (PDF). Bucknell University. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Gilvarry, Alex (4 May 2010). "POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR". Tottenville Review.
- ^ "Stories by Porochista-Khakpour on Guernica". Guernica.
- ^ "Porochista Khakpour". Picador Guest Professorship for Literature. 16 February 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Award-winning Author Khakpour Writes Memoir of Her Illness". Kayhan Life. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Writing Workshop, Writing at Wesleyan". Wesleyan University. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Upcoming Events with Visiting Writer-in-Residence Porochista Khakpour: Middle East and North African Studies Program". Northwestern University. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Porochista Khakpour". Carnegie Corporation of New York. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Award-winning Author Khakpour Writes Memoir of Her Illness". Kayhan Life. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Nayar, Suchita; Logan Buckley. "Porochista Khakpour Talks: the mystery of the short story & the politics of the moment". Breakwater Review. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (8 October 2010). "This Book Will End Your Life: The Greatest Modern Persian Novel Ever Written - The Rumpus.net". therumpus.net. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Evitts Dickinson, Elizabeth. "Johns Hopkins Magazine". pages.jh.edu. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Porochista Khakpour [@pkhakpour] (November 24, 2015). "And finally because I love Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, and Cormac McCarthy--it doesn't make me any less a woman. Or women of color" (Tweet) – via Twitter.,
- ^ Hamedi, Mina (19 May 2020). "The Old World Has Come For You: A Conversation with Porochista Khakpour - The Adroit Journal". The Adroit Journal. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (6 December 2022). "A Year in Reading: Porochista Khakpour". The Millions. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista. "Porochista Khakpour on Can Xue". Tumblr. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (13 March 2017). "The Performance of Fiction: An Interview with Can Xue". Words Without Borders.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (13 March 2017). "The Performance of Fiction: An Interview with Can Xue". Words Without Borders.
- ^ "Frontier". Open Letter. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "Porochista Khakpour". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ "Biography". porochistakhakpour.com. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "2016 Pushcart Prize Nominations". Bennington Review. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Meet the 2018 Literary Awards Judges". PEN America. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Kellogg, Carolyn (16 August 2012). "Porochista Khakpour, sick with Lyme disease, asks for help". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780525564713.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (11 September 2010). "Opinion | My Nine Years as a Middle-Eastern American". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ "porochista khakpour پوروچیستا خاکپور on Twitter". Twitter. July 1, 2021. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
- ^ Khakpour, Porochista (20 July 2020). "Sit, Stay (In), Read: How Cosmo Became My Entire Universe". Argos & Artemis. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ^ Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson (November 2008). "American Girl". Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "A courageously intimate memoir about living within a body that has "never felt at ease"". Kirkus Reviews. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2020.