Porochista Khakpour was born in Tehran and raised in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, and Salon, among other publications. She has been awarded fellowships from Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, VCCA, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Ucross, and Yaddo. Her debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects (Grove/Atlantic), was a New York Times “Editor’s Choice,” Chicago Tribune “Fall’s Best,” and 2007 California Book Award winner. She is currently Picador Guest Professor at the University of Leipzig, Germany, and core faculty at Fairfield University’s low-residency MFA program.