Professor Nader Engheta for groundbreaking innovation and transformative contributions to electromagnetic complex materials and nanoscale optics, and for pioneering development of the fields of near-zero-index metamaterials, and material-inspired analogue computation and optical nanocircuitry. 1/20/21

It is not easy getting Iranians to have Persian dinners out at restaurants, says Reza Sarkheil, because most believe the best food is found at home in their mother's kitchen. But what happens when the restaurant's chef is an Iranian woman - Reza's mum - and the dishes she cooks are from family recipes that have been passed down for generations? -Lincoln Tan, New Zealand Herald 1/6/21

A federal court ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to produce records showing its Seattle field office purposely targeted people of Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian descent for questioning after a U.S. drone killed a high-ranking Iranian military leader in January. -Politico 12/31/20

In Tehran in the 1990s, there was a suitcase-carrying, suit-wearing gentleman known simply as the movie guy. He hand-delivered VHS bootlegs of films like Titanic and Romeo & Juliet - the good stuff - to so-called subscribers around the city. Those subscribers were die-hard movie fans, going to great lengths to see American movies not available in Iran. But it was worth it, says filmmaker Kami Sadraei, because the contents of that suitcase mattered. They really mattered. -Deirdre McCarrick, MovieMaker 12/29/20

Farhang Foundation is proud to present the 8th Annual "Virtual" Celebration of SHAB-E YALDA. Join us as we welcome the arrival of the winter solstice, an ancient Persian tradition dating back thousands of years. The evening program will feature Ferdowsi's Shahnameh storytelling by the world's first female Iranian epic storyteller GORDAFARID, as well as HAFEZ readings and storytelling by Haleh Mahboubi Gabbay, and a very special musical performance by renowned musician Shahin Shahida 12/17/20

I am pleased to share NIAC and NIAC Action's latest impact report. 2020 has been a tumultuous year, framed against the backdrop of three incredibly challenging years for our community and country. Yet, in spite of these challenges, together we have managed to achieve enormous successes for our community and our cause. -Jamal Abdi and the NIAC Team 12/10/20

Supermodel and beauty blogger Elnaz Golrokh is taking the industry by storm after getting the cover of Maxim Magazine, and she looks drop-dead gorgeous. The new 'Face Of Iran' is well known by her huge devoted fan base in the Middle East, but the supermodel is hell-bent on letting the whole world learn to love the Iranian culture and beauty. -Blast 12/3/20

Iranian-Swedish coach Poya Asbaghi has been named as new head coach of Sweden U21 football team. The Karaj-born coach, who has replaced Roland Nilsson, has penned a contract with U21 team until 2023. 11/25/20

Javad Soleimani still wears his wedding ring. His wife, Elnaz Nabiyi, was a passenger on Ukrainian International Airlines Flight PS752 leaving Tehran on January 8, 2020. She was returning home to Edmonton. The plane was hit by two missiles minutes after take off, killing all 176 people on board. Thirteen had Edmonton connections. -Jessica Robb, Global News 11/23/20

National Iranian American Council (NIAC) President Jamal Abdi issued the following statement regarding the release of internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) documents revealing that the agency detained Iranian Americans based solely on their national origin and at a far greater rate than was previously known, and worked to hide this information as they denied it to the public 11/19/20

When Customs and Border Protection acting Commissioner Mark Morgan admitted in February that agents had improperly detained Iranian Americans at the U.S.-Canada border, he said in "one instance leadership got a little overzealous." But agency documents made public Tuesday by order of a federal judge indicate that Customs agents held far more people at the Blaine, Wash., border crossing in early January than previously revealed. -Los Angeles Times 11/19/20

Kimya Raietparvar has played on both United States and Iranian international teams, which eventually led her to Vanderbilt-where the sophomore is already making an impact. -Sam Curtis and Anita Mukherjee, Vanderbilt Hustler 11/12/20

The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization serving the interests of Iranian Americans, congratulates Oklahoma State Senator Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani (D-FL), New York State Senator Anna Kaplan (D-NY) and Phoenix's City Council candidate Yassamin Ansari for their successes in the 2020 election - a truly historic moment for the Iranian American community. 11/5/20

Accusations of sexual assault against one of Iran's most celebrated visual artists are making waves in Toronto's Iranian community - with many saying they represent a critical moment not only in the burgeoning #MeToo movement inside Iran, but also an opportunity for community leaders abroad to take a stand against a culture of impunity they say has too long shielded perpetrators at all levels of power. -Shanifa Nasser, CBS 11/2/20

The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian organization serving the interests of Iranian Americans, today condemned disparaging and false social media posts directed at two Iranian American public officials, both of whom are currently seeking reelection, as reported in the Long Beach Post News. 10/30/20

The Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization serving the interests of the Iranian American community, today released the findings of its 2020 National Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans conducted from September 8th to September 20th of this year, which revealed that more than three-quarters (78%) of respondents expressed concerns about discrimination, citing national rhetoric and policies towards immigrants and Muslims and increased tension between the U.S. and Iran as sources for discrimination. 10/27/20

A Florida Technical College student is showcasing her art among the stars. Nava Pishgar is studying aerospace engineering and is one of three winners of a national competition hosted by Students for the Exploration and Development of Space and satellite company Planet. The companies asked for participants to produce a work of art for one of Planet's Dove satellites. The Brevard County native says the design is open for interpretation and features some of the elements of Persian art, a nod to her family's roots and to her beloved aunt who is an artist as well and lives in Iran. -Gabriella Nunez, Click Orlando 10/27/20

For Iranian Americans, the election of Donald Trump was more than an expression of intolerance and ignorance in the United States. It was an assault on their basic civil rights and the existence of their country of heritage. In the past four years, Iranian Americans have been torn from their families, stripped of their bank accounts, and arrested at the border. A continuation of the status quo would make the community an ever-more vulnerable minority, especially as the drums of war against Iran beat louder. - Sina Toossi, Al-Jazeera 10/26/20

Today, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization serving the interests of the Iranian American community, welcomed the introduction of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives by Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Francis Rooney (R-FL) that establishes a new visa category to allow family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents to temporarily visit. The new B-3 nonimmigrant visa category created by the Temporary Family Visitation Act (TFVA) will provide an opportunity for family visitations while boosting the U.S. economy. 10/20/20

A State Department official accused two prominent Iranian-American figures of serving the Iranian regime, including one Iranian-American journalist who had been taken hostage by the Iranian government for nearly two years. "In case you were not 100% sure [congressional candidate Sima Ladjevardian] is an #Iran Regime mouthpiece this endorsement by [journalist Jason Rezaian] puts all doubt to rest," U.S. Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ellie Cohanim wrote in a Twitter post on Monday. The tweet has since been taking down. -Matthew Petti, Responsible Statecraft 10/20/20

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank that has promoted U.S. military strikes on Iran and is funded by one of President Donald Trump's biggest campaign megadonors, served as a messaging hub for a controversial taxpayer-funded project, the Iran Disinformation Project, that engaged in harassment of American critics of the Trump administration's foreign policy in the Middle East. -Eli Clifton, Responsible Statecraft 10/19/20

While some Iranian Americans fully support President Donald Trump, Nazmiyal is among scores of Iranian Americans who have no loyalty to the repressive regime in Tehran, but who are fed up with a White House that has vilified their homeland, banned their family members from visiting the U.S., and stoked fears of a military conflict. From the Muslim ban to an endless stream of sanctions and saber-rattling, they hear about their relatives suffering in Iran and feel increased hostility in their adopted homeland. -Kim Hjelmgaard Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY 10/9/20

In the run-up to the US presidential election this November, the New York-based human rights non-profit Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI) is drawing attention to one of President Donald Trump's most controversial acts, Executive Order 13780, the so-called travel ban that prevents people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. -The Art Newspaper 10/7/20

If you're a first-generation 'anything' you've probably fielded the "Where are you from?" question all your life. Unlike a lot of people, this question has never actually bothered me, but I understand why it bothers others. I'm the over-sharing type and love to teach people about my identity... -Emma Anvari, Fashion Journal 10/7/20

It took me three tries to fill out the U.S. Census. It's not a particularly long or complicated form, but this year was different. I pass as white and have always marked white. This year, I checked "Other," wrote in "Iranian," and made my parents do the same. As the Trump administration fights to end the 2020 U.S. Census count and limit those who can be counted, organizations like the National Iranian American Council and Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans have encouraged Iranian Americans to mark "Other" on their forms and write in "Iranian," building off a similar 2010 campaign, "Check it right; you ain't white!" -Sarah Sakha, Responsible Statecraft 10/5/20

Iran has temporarily released French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who has been in jail for more than a year over security breaches, her lawyer said on October 3. "Fariba Adelkhah has come out [of prison] on leave with an electronic ankle bracelet," Said Dehghan said in a tweet, without providing other details. 10/5/20

Roya Khadjavi Projects is pleased to present "Memories, Tales and Folk Songs", a group exhibition by seven female Iranian artists in diaspora including Afsoon, Arghavan Khosravi, Atieh Sohrabi, Farnaz Zabetian, Leila Seyedzadeh, Parastoo Ahovan, and Roxana Manouchehri. 10/2/20

Dara Khosrowshahi is charged with turning the scandal-plagued startup into a traditional company-without sacrificing what made it successful... Khosrowshahi sometimes wears a T-shirt with the words "We Are All Dreamers" printed across the front. He often speaks of his experience finding asylum in America after his family fled Iran, in 1978. -Sheelah Kolhatkar, New Yorker 9/28/20

Jamal Abdi, Executive Director of National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC Action), issued the following statement on new restrictions proposed by the Trump administration that would target international students, including a 2 year maximum visa for Iranian students and other nationals of countries whose governments have been designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism 9/25/20

IN JUNE 2019, the State Department suspended a contract for a counterpropaganda program called the Iran Disinformation Project, widely known by its combative Twitter handle, @IranDisinfo. The project had come under scrutiny because, on Twitter, it was dedicating a significant amount of its output to attacking U.S. critics of President Donald Trump's Iran policy. Within days of complaints being brought against Iran Disinfo, the project was suspended; by early June, the remainder of the $1.5 million contract had been terminated. -Negar Mortazavi, Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept 9/23/20

A congressional race between staunchly conservative House Republican Dan Crenshaw and Iranian American progressive Sima Ladjevardian has garnered national attention while encapsulating the shifting Demographics in the one-time Republican bastion of Texas. Crenshaw and Ladjevardian are competing to represent the state's second congressional district, which includes parts of northern and western Houston. - Joseph Stepansky, Al Jazeera 9/23/20

My friend Ghazaleh Golbakhsh is a film-maker, a writer, actor, Iranian, Kiwi, woman of colour, citizen of the world, and wild dreamer. Her new book of essays examines the impact of her identity and its formation, on everything from dating to growing up in war torn Iran. I released my memoir, a bit of the journey to becoming that so called first so-called "Refugee MP", this year too. She's a prominent character in that story, and we compared notes a lot as we wrote our accounts. -Golriz Ghahrman, Newsroom, NZ 9/22/20

The strangest London fashion week yet continued on Sunday with a show that brought drones, explosions and military garb to an idyllic spot in the Buckinghamshire countryside. The show was produced by Paria Farzaneh, a rising British star who has described her work in fashion as "merely a platform for something bigger". It was the latest and most unusual fashion week attempt to reflect current, discombobulating times, while also sticking to social-distancing guidelines. -Hannah Marriott, Guardian 9/21/20

The 2020 Election may be the most critical vote in our lifetime. It is more important than ever that Iranian Americans and our allies have a powerful voice at the ballot box. And this year, we have an opportunity to elect more Iranian Americans into office than ever before. Below are all the Iranian-American candidates running for office this election. -NIAC Action 9/18/20

I grew up surrounded by good cooks, but I only started cooking seriously in my mid-twenties. I'm Iranian and my family would always make elaborate dinners to bring people together. I was born in Tehran, but we moved to Toronto when I was 12. -Toronto Life 9/16/20

In times of crisis, the California chef Hanif Sadr learned to forage and preserve food, and use it to heal. Mr. Sadr, the chef and majority owner of Komaaj, a pop-up restaurant and catering company in Berkeley, Calif., first discovered these treasures in the summer of 2013, a little more than a year after arriving in the United States. He has been foraging there ever since. -Leena Trivedi-Grenier, New York Times 9/11/20

The University of California, Irvine has received a $1.5 million challenge commitment from the Massiah Foundation to establish the Ferdowsi Presidential Chair in Zoroastrian Studies - the first of its kind in the United States. Additionally, the University of California will support the chair with up to $500,000. The Massiah Foundation was founded by Fariborz Maseeh, Ph.D., an Iranian American businessman and pioneer in the field of microelectromechanical systems who lives in Newport Beach. 9/11/20

As Jacqueline Saper shopped for a gift for her husband on a sunny Tehran boulevard in 1979, she had no idea that she was about to witness history. The young Iranian wife had already lived through events that seemed to shift the earth on its axis. In her lifetime, Jacqueline had endured hardships that few can imagine, but also joys and privileges that Americans would find surprisingly familiar. -Teme Ring, Chicago Now 9/10/20

Siah Armajani, an Iranian-born American artist whose architecturally scaled, politically inflected public sculptures have been internationally influential, even as he kept a low profile in the art world, died on Aug. 27 at his home in Minneapolis, a city he had lived and worked in for 60 years. He was 81. 9/4/20

Azadeh Dastmalchi's search for a user-friendly blood pressure test triggered a decade-long research effort that ultimately spawned a groundbreaking wearable device and led the University of Ottawa PhD candidate to launch her own company. On Wednesday, the biomedical engineering student and budding entrepreneur earned some well-deserved time in the spotlight. -David Sali, Ottawa Business Journal 9/3/20

Do you love a great story? Try Daniel Nayeri's new autobiographical novel, his first, Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story), which begins with these memorable words: "All Persians are liars and lying is a sin." That's what the kids in Mrs. Miller's class think, but I'm the only Persian they've ever met, so I don't know where they got that idea. -Ailsa Chang, NPR 9/3/20

For centuries, the classical music "canon" has been dominated by European male figures. Times are changing, though, and many diverse voices are finally finding a foothold in the genre - and one need look no further than Davis. Iranian musician Aida Shirazi came to the United States four years ago to pursue a Ph.D in composition at UC Davis. Lately, she's been getting a lot of national attention not just for her music, but also for her role as a co-founder of the Iranian Female Composer's Association. -CapRadio 9/1/20

Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who received a Purple Heart in the war in Afghanistan, is considered one of President Trump's most reliable surrogates. He's currently fighting for reelection against Sima Ladjevardian, an Iranian-born lawyer turned political activist who was a key adviser to Beto O'Rourke in his surprisingly close race against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). - Jason Rezaian, Washington Post 8/27/20

Gelareh Zadeh speaks about the first time she observed a brain operation the same way one might describe discovering a precious jewel. As a medical student in the early 1990s, she recalls being mesmerized by a skillful neurosurgeon delicately working on the unruly snarl of blood vessels of an arteriovenous malformation. "It was so tantalizing," she says, explaining how the experience put her on the path to choosing it as her specialty. "Technically, it's really a beautiful field." -Wency Leung, Globe and Mail 8/26/20

Shahrzad Rafati was only 13 when she decided she would one day build a global business. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to achieve her dream if she stayed in her native Iran. So at the age of 17 her drive and confidence managed to persuade her parents to let her move by herself to Vancouver to go to university. Today the 40-year-old continues to run BBTV, a company that helps firms around the world secure advertising revenues from videos on YouTube, Facebook and other websites and apps. -Andreane Williams, BBC 8/24/20

Our members have spoken: by a margin of 85%, NIAC Action members have voted to endorse Joe Biden for President! Now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We have never endorsed in a presidential election before, instead focusing our efforts on Congressional races and Iranian-American candidates. But this year, the stakes are too high ... -Jamal Abdi, NIAC Action 8/18/20

Momeni Foundation is dedicated to providing scholarships to graduating high school students and full time college students of Iranian descent anywhere in the world. Award Recipients for year 2020 (Total awards = $20,000 USD). Scholastic Achievement Scholarships (Total = $5,000 USD) 8/12/20

There are many examples of children of foreign nationalities falling by the wayside in Japan, after arriving unable to speak the language and then struggling to fit in at school or in society. But Sahel Rosa, 34, came to Japan from the chaotic aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and went on to become an actor and TV personality. -Mainichi Japan 8/11/20

24-year-old Iranian American Amir Taghi got his start showing his designs in Houston while he was still in high school. Now he's making a name for himself in NYC. -Houstonia 8/11/20

When our culture is better represented, we can spread ideas and change people's opinions, not just about accents, but about people with all sorts of backgrounds. So that down the road, when a child moves here from another country, instead of seeing themselves villainized, ridiculed, or both, they're able to see and hear themselves as the heroes of their own story. -Prem Sai Ramani, Lainey Gossip 8/7/20

Behnaz Sohrabian's goal is to communicate with people through her paintings. "I think I want to say something through these compositions, through these lines and visual elements. Even when I choose the title, I try to choose a good title that is a match or suitable for the painting, for the composition, for the concept," she said in a spring interview. -Oklahoman 8/6/20

husband-and-wife Ali and Nikou Rahbar Fakhimi, both Iranian immigrants, who found each other - and new careers - practicing dentistry after coming to the United States. Surprisingly enough, Dr. Ali Fakhimi, DMD, did not start in dental science. He worked for his father, a successful real estate developer. Now after running a 20-year practice, Soft Touch Dental at 3735 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Fakhimi has forged a national reputation as a "comprehensive dentist." -San Diego News 8/6/20

An 18-year-old environmental campaigner from the United States has told UN News how she wants to "turn apathetic people into climate activists". Sophia Kianni, whose family originally comes from Iran, is one of seven young people from across the world who have been selected to participate in the UN Secretary-General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. The group which was launched at the end of the July aims to engage young people in "an open and transparent dialogue" about climate issues. -UN News 8/4/20

I can't tell you the exact moment when I went from calling myself "Iranian" to "Persian." I know that it happened post 9/11 and that the decision was made when I went to a predominantly white middle school... I asked an older student I had been paired up with for peer- advising about this. She was the only other Iranian girl at the school and, in retrospect, that was probably the only reason we had been paired up, since we had very little else in common. "Stop saying 'Iranian,'" she advised me. "Say you're Persian. It makes a difference." -Nedda Sarshar, This 8/3/20

"A lot of the work that I'm hoping to do is about pointing people toward the organizers and the people on the front lines of this (Black Lives Matter) movement." -Kaitlyn Greenidge, Elle 7/16/20

Nastaran Tebyanian, a Penn State Stuckeman School doctoral candidate in architecture with a focus on landscape architecture, recently won a Scientific Merit Award from the Journal of Digital Architecture for her article titled "Application of Machine Learning for Urban Landscape Design: A Primer for Landscape Architects." -Pennsylvania State University 7/14/20

Writer and curator Sohrab Mohebbi has been named curator of the Carnegie International's 58th edition, set to open in 2022. Mohebbi, who is thirty-nine and grew up in Iran, is the first Western Asian person to helm the contemporary art survey in its 124-year history -Art Forum 7/9/20

On Thursday July 16 at 6 pm PT, a program entitled Finding Truths and Creating Art in Exile features Award-winning playwrights Iranian-American Sholeh Wolpe and Iranian Nassim Soleimanpour. Soleimanpour's most recent play Nassim will be performed in The Broad Stage 2020/21 season in April 2021. -Broadway World 7/9/20

As the pandemic continues to cause unprecedented trauma and profound financial hardship, Pars Equality Center (Pars) strives to support the community through various initiatives. Thanks to the generosity of private donors, philanthropic foundations and government grants, Pars offers the following assistance to qualified individuals and households. 7/3/20

Written over a period of more than 10 years, Porochista Khakpour's collection of essays, Brown Album, is a reckoning with what it means to be an Iranian in America today. An acclaimed novelist, Porochista Khakpour launched onto the literary scene with her novels Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007) and The Last Illusion (2014). -Iman Sultan, Middle East Eye 7/2/20

Sogand Tabatabaei, a young artist and a Master of Fine Arts student at the University of Nevada, Reno, has been living all by herself during the entire lockdown, away from her husband and parents, who are in Iran. During this period, she has created art that reflects some of the anxieties and uncertainties she has been feeling. 7/2/20

A conversation on racial justice with panelists Abdi Soltani, Executive Director of the ACLUNC, Mitra Jalali, St. Paul City Councilwoman, Tehran Von Ghasri, comedian and activist, and Cyrus Mehri, civil rights attorney. The conversation will be moderated by media anchor, reporter, and producer, Shirley Jahad. -PAAIA 6/26/20

I work as the executive director of a civil rights organization, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. I am calling on Iranian-Americans to speak up and take action vigorously to support the Black community in the United States. -Abdi Soltani, PAAIA 6/22/20

'Out in the Diaspora' (Zoom event on June 20th) builds representation for future generations. The reading hosted by San Francisco State University's Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies and Diaspora Arts Connection will be followed by a dance-focused component on June 25. The Center's chair, Persis Karim, will moderate a conversation with designer Hushidar Mortezaie and choreographer Shireen Rahimi before a joint performance. -SF Examiner 6/19/20

Hooman Mehdizadehjafari has been selected for the City View Park public art commission. Mehdizadehjafari's artwork, Soar, will be installed in front of the new pavilion being constructed at City View Park. Creator of Hoomanart is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian visual artist and designer based in Vancouver, Canada. - 6/18/20

The Iranian-born New Zealand MP describes a 'central heartbreak' of being a migrant child in this exclusive extract from her book Know Your Place -Guardian 6/15/20

Born in Iran and raised in the United States, Hadieh Shafie is fascinated with reimagining the book form. She is also interested in drawing textual forms and exploring the emotive power of color, as well as "looking at new modes of collapsing the space between what is drawing and sculpture." Shafie's works have been collected by New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among others. In October 2019, her work "Transition 7″ was included in Christie's Middle Eastern Modern & Contemporary Art auction -Omid Memarian, Global Voices 6/10/20

Join our virtual conversation with leading Iranian-American women building political power on Thursday, June 11 at 5-6pm PST. We will be featuring Yassamin Ansari, candidate for Phoenix City Council, Shireen Ghorbani, Salt Lake County Council Member, and Nilofar Ganjaie, moderator and NIAC Action Board Member. -NIAC Action 6/8/20

The Iranian revolution of 1979 was a watershed moment in global history, but also created a massive upheaval in the lives of Iranians, many of which left their native country in its aftermath. Despite the caricatured images of the Middle East and Iran in the United States, Iran is home to a diverse population of varied peoples and stories. As such, Iranians who have immigrated to the U.S. over the course of several decades, reflect a wide-range of experiences. -NIAC 6/3/20

Not many Goldman Sachs partners seek out citizenship in a tiny Caribbean island to speed through airports. Ali Meli wasn't your typical Goldman partner. Couch-surfing inside the investment bank, an almost $US10 million ($15 million) pay cheque as a junior trader and clashing with peers are all parts of the legend of Meli, described by colleagues as an unlikely figure in Wall Street's most elite club: Abrasive but brilliant, subversive but successful, and above all one of its most "eccentric" figures. -Sridhar Natarajan, Bloomberg 6/1/20

A couple weeks ago, my friend sent me a TikTok of someone ranting about whether they should be considered a person of color as a Middle Easterner. Her text read something along the lines of, "I feel like this is you in a nutshell." I laughed, knowing full well that I've shared the same gripes with her countless times. I also instinctively looked over at the U.S. census postcard collecting dust and cat hair on the floor of my foyer and cringed. -Nicki Ghafari, Huffington Post 5/27/20

New York-based Khakpour is the author of two novels, Sons and Other Flammable Objects (2007) and The Last Illusion (2014), and a memoir about illness, Sick (2014). Brown Album brings together a number of her autobiographical essays about being an Iranian American in the 21st century, which first appeared in publications such as the New York Times and Salon. They tell a fairly typical first-generation immigrant story of identity confusion and gradual self-discovery. -Houman Barekat, Guardian 5/22/20

My friend Shahin Shahablou, who has died of coronavirus aged 56, was a photographer and teacher born in Tehran, who moved to the UK in 2011. He was 15 years old in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution profoundly changed Iranian society, and his life was inevitably caught up in the dramatic events of his country. -David Gleeson, Guardian 5/6/20

THE SHAMELIS ARE an extraordinarily tight-knit Iranian family. Forty-year-old Amin, the eldest of five brothers, first arrived in California in 2003, and was followed slowly but surely by his parents and siblings. All of them, that is, except for Masoud, who for a decade now has been trying to join the rest of his family in the United States. The situation had been looking hopeful, until the global coronavirus pandemic and a couple strokes of the U.S. president's pen blew it all up. -Felipe De La Hoz, Intercept 4/30/20

Rocking Dior calfskin trainers, diamond-encrusted Cartier glasses and a chain with a bedazzled "A" logo pendant, it is hard to distinguish Abtin Abassi from the blinged-out clientele at the launch of his new flagship store. Influencers, rappers, ex-Love Islanders; all gathered at A Jewelers in London to celebrate its launch in February. Camden mayor Maryam Eslamdoust was present to cut the ribbon, and his ruffled livery collar wasn't even the most ostentatious adornment in the room. -Vice 4/27/20 4/27/20