Author of ‘Funny in Farsi’ brings humor, immigrant perspective to FIU

Firoozeh Dumas: “Our commonalities outweigh our differences.”

By Sissi Aguila

Life as an Iranian immigrant in Southern California has given Firoozeh Dumas an insight into the intersection of two cultures as well as some really funny stories about immigrants in America.

Dumas, the author of “Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America,” FIU’s first common reading selection, shared her humorous anecdotes with FIU students, faculty and staff Oct. 19 at Modesto A. Maidique Campus and Oct. 20 at Biscayne Bay Campus.

The audience chuckled as she recounted her first experience at summer camp. Dumas didn’t bathe for a week when she learned there were no doors between showers. In elementary school, she would impress her schoolmates by writing backwards, aka in Persian.

Many in the room related to growing up as their “mother’s translator” or as the odd family on the block.

“This is the first campus I’ve been to that has such an international mix,” she told the group gathered in the GC Ballrooms. “Never have so many people ‘friended’ me on Facebook prior to a speaking engagement.”

After her presentation, students, faculty and staff waited for more than 30 minutes to have their copy of “Funny in Farsi” signed by the author. Students shared their funny immigrant stories with Dumas and thanked her for writing the memoir.

“If you give something 30 years, it could be funny if no one was hurt,” Dumas told students.

Dumas joined a writer’s group when her youngest child entered kindergarten. She had inherited her father’s love of storytelling but never considered writing them down. Then 9/11 happened. Her classmates urged her to publish her stories. They argued there really wasn’t anything on the market about a regular Middle Eastern family.

While searching for a publisher, Dumas would read her essays on National Public Radio. The reaction, she said, was often along the lines of, “‘A humorous Middle Eastern woman? I thought that was an oxymoron.’”

A few literary agents even turned her down because the book did not have enough oppression and turmoil.

Soon after “Funny in Farsi” was released, though, Dumas began receiving requests from teachers to speak at their school.

“The book is about shared humanity,” she said. “Our commonalities outweigh our differences.”

Dumas urged FIU students to take advantage of the variety of cultures on campus. “If you want to succeed in the 21^st century, you’ve got to think globally.”