Blood of Flowers (Amirrezvani)

Author Bio
• Birth—November 13, 1961
• Where—Tehran, Iran
• Raised—San Francisco, California, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California-Berkeley; M.F.A,
   San Francisco State University
• Currently—lives in San Francisco


Born in Tehran, Anita Amirrezvani was raised by her mother in San Francisco following her parent's divorce. By the time she was 13, she was visiting Iran to spend time with her father and his side of her family—complete with 11 cousins and two young half-brothers.

While visiting Tehran in 1979, the country became embroiled in the Islamic Revolution; her father, deciding the country was too dangerous, packed up his family, including Anita, and left the country, for what they hoped would be a short time. After two years at Vassar, Amirrezvani transferred to Berkeley in California, attaining her B.A. in English. After college, Amirrezvani worked as a journalist, spending 10 years as a dance critics and arts writer for two newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area. (From the publishers.)

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Her own words:

It took me about five years to get to the end of the first draft, and I didn’t tell anyone I was working on a novel until then. As part of my research, I spent a lot of time reading about Iranian history and literature in university library stacks. I also asked my father and stepmother to take me to Isfahan on two separate occasions in order to be able to describe the settings in my novel. One of my fondest memories is sharing hot tea and cookies with them at a teahouse on one of Isfahan’s historic bridges while watching the river rush by. (From the author's website.)