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Nahid Rachlin's Biography

Member Info

Married
Mar 2009

http://www.nahidrachlin.com

  • Born in Iran, I was adopted at the age of six months by my aunt. When I was nine, my father, a powerful judge at the time, took me back from her forcefully -- traumatic  both for my aunt and myself.  This experience made me introspective at a young age and led me to extensive reading and eventually writing. When I was a teenager, I begged my parents to send me to college in the US. Because they saw me as rebellious, someone who might cause trouble for them, they agreed conditional on my promise to return after graduation. But I met my American husband here and stayed on. I have been writing fiction, my true passion, since  adolescence. My first published book, FOREIGNER deals with the alienation of an immigrant from both her native and adoptive countries. My latest published book, PERSIAN GIRLS, a memoir, explores the parallel between my life and that of my older sister with whom I became close after being taken to my birth family. She dreamt of becoming an actress and I a writer, both professions frowned upon by our family. I managed to fulfill my dreams but she got trapped in a bad marriage, had to give up her acting aspirations, and her life ended tragically.

    • Influences

    Anne Tyler, Ruth Prower Jhabvala, Joyce Carol Oates

    Agents

    Gary Morris, at David Black Literary agency

    Recommended Links

    my website

    Publishers

    Tarcher/Penguin, WW Norton, City Lights

    Interests & Hobbies

    Books,  movies, museums, restaurants, travel.

    nahid-rachlin's picture

    About Nahid

    http://www.nahidrachlin.com Born in Iran, I was adopted at the age of six months by my aunt. When I was nine, my father, a powerful judge at the time, took me back from her forcefully -- traumatic  both for my aunt and myself.  This experience made me...
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    Causes Nahid Rachlin Supports

    Amnesty International, Oxfam America, The Doe Foundation, Meals on Wheels, American Civil Liberies Union

    Nahid’s Favorite Books

    I am particularly interested in evocative, thought-provoking fiction and memoirs.