Experts
Porochista Khakpour
Author
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What is a Pan-Middle Eastern identity?
After 9/11, Khakpour says, Middle Easterners were all lumped into one category. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In Identity
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What does it mean to be Iranian?
Khakpour feels she has become more Iranian with age. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In Identity
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Porochista Khakpour On A Hyphenated Identity
Born in Iran, raised in Los Angeles, living in New York - the many sides of Porochista Khakpour. Read More
February 19, 2008 | In Identity
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What's in a name? What's in a curse?
The characters Darius and Xerxes were named after very interesting Kings in Persian history, who were wrapped up in comedies of errors. Read More
February 13, 2008 | In Arts & Culture
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Why did you write from the male perspective?
Because Khakpour was very interested in what makes Muslim men tick, after the events on 9/11. Read More
February 13, 2008 | In Arts & Culture
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Is there a generational split in the Iranian-American community?
The older generations tend to be more conservative, Khakpour says. Read More
February 13, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
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"There's so much grey area," Khakpour says. Read More
February 1, 2008 | In History
Porochista Khakpour was born in Tehran in 1978 and raised in the Greater Los Angeles area (South Pasadena, to be exact). Her first language was Farsi, her second (and luckily mostly forgotten) tongue, Valley Girl. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and The Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars MA program. She has been awarded fellowships from Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Yaddo.She began writing as an arts and entertainment journalist—her subjects have spanned from clubs (Paul Oakenfold!) to couture (Paul Poiret!); Maggie Gyllenhaal (Maggie’s first big feature!) to Fabio (Porochista’s first feature at 16!); New York City’s finest drinking establishments (Paper magazine bar columnist, 2000-2001, as well as New York magazine online bar critic) to rural Illinois’s most dangerous skydiving compound (2004 staff writer stint at The Chicago Reader). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Village Voice, The Chicago Reader, Paper, Flaunt, Nylon, Bidoun, Alef, Canteen, nerve.com and FiveChapters.com, among others.She currently spends a third of her time in New York City and two thirds three hours away in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where she teaches Fiction at Bucknell University.
