Suzi ehtesham-zadeh wins georgia author of the year award
Congratulations to Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh on winning the Georgia Author of the Year Award in the short story category for her collection, Zan! Suzi’s collection is a brilliant short story collection about contemporary Iranian women as they navigate a crucial moment in their nation’s history.
Huge congratulations to Suzi on this well-deserved accomplishment!
More about the collection:
A university student strips off her hijab in the streets of Tehran and films herself as part of a daring protest movement. A wealthy Iranian woman living in Atlanta maintains a secret life as a burlesque dancer. A teenager slips out of a hotel room at night to skinny dip in the toxic Caspian Sea. An Iranian lesbian agonizes over her coming out and her father’s subsequent attempts to re-educate her. These are some of the many windows Zan opens into the complex lives of Iranian women today–those who continue to suffer oppression under the Islamic Republic, those who are crafting new identities in America, and those who hover somewhere in between.
Against the backdrops of the Islamic Republic and the American empire, these women grapple with the rigid standards foisted upon them and struggle to forge meaningful relationships with people who misunderstand and otherize them. Winner of the 2022 Dzanc Short Collection Prize, Zan explores feelings familiar to anyone who has ever felt marginalized or who has sought a home in a world where cultures collide and conflict.