Firoozeh Dumas is an Iranian-American writer and was born in 1965 in Abadan, Iran. At the age of seven, Dumas and her family moved to Whittier, California. She later moved back to Iran and lived inTehran and Ahvaz. However, she once again immigrated to the United States; first to Whittier, then to Newport Beach, California. Dumas began to write and submit essays to obtain money to go toward college. Kazem, her father, dominates many of her stories throughout her memoir Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America. She takes pride in her Iranian heritage. Growing up, Dumas struggled to mix with her American classmates, who knew nothing about Iran. However, throughout hardships, she emphasizes the significance of family strength and love in her life.
As a result of Funny in Farsi’s success, Firoozeh Dumas was nominated for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Not only was she the first Iranian author to be nominated, she was also the first Asian author to hold such an honor.
She is also the author of Laughing Without An Accent, which is a memoir containing a few stories about her childhood, but mostly stories about her adventures as an adult.
