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Gina B. Nahai (Persian: جینا نهایی, born December 9, 1961) is the author of Cry of the Peacock, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith, Sunday's Silence and Caspian Rain. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages. She was also a lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing (MPW) Program at the University of Southern California.

Early life and education

Gina Barkhordar Nahai was born and grew up in Iran during the Shah's reign to a Persian Jewish family, and left with her family shortly before the country's revolution. At age 13, she began attending boarding school in Switzerland and later moved to the United States in 1977, arriving in Los Angeles the night Elvis Presley died. At the time, she did not realize she was leaving Iran for good. In college, she studied political science, including Iran's pre- and post-revolutionary politics, at the University of California, Los Angeles for both her bachelor's and master's of art degrees. Nahai speaks Persian, English, French, and Spanish.

Writing and career

Nahai lives with her family in Los Angeles, where she formerly taught fiction writing at the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program, where she also studied with John Rechy and earned her Master of Professional Writing degree. She previously taught at UCLA and worked at the RAND Corporation. She is a frequent lecturer on Iranian Jewish history and the topic of exile.

Nahai writes frequently for the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journal. She is currently working on a new novel, The Pearl Cannon.

Awards and honors

Nahai and her writings have been nominated for and received numerous awards and honors. Following are some of the more prominent ones:

• 2013: Los Angeles Press Club, Best Columnist (finalist)
• 2008: Persian Heritage Award, first place
• 2007: Caspian Rain nominated by MacAdam/Cage for the National Book Award
• 2007: Caspian Rain nominated by MacAdam/Cage for the Pulitzer Prize
• 2007: Caspian Rain selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Chicago Tribune
• 2002: Simon Rockower Award (winner)
• 2001: Sunday's Silence selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Los Angeles Times
• 2000: Orange Prize for Fiction (finalist)
• 2000: International Dublin Literary Award (finalist)
• 1999: Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith selected as “One of the Best Books of the Year,” Los Angeles Times
• 1992: Cry of the Peacock nominated by Crown Publishers for the Pulitzer Prize
• 1985: Nelson Algren Award, Chicago Magazine (honorable mention)

Bibliography

• Cry of the Peacock (1991)
• Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith (1999)
• Sunday's Silence (2001)
• "Mercy" (an essay in The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt) (2006)
• Caspian Rain (2007)
• The Luminous Heart of Jonah S. (2014)

References

1. "ENGL Faculty Display > Department of English > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences".
2. ^ "Review of "Caspian Rain"". Paste Magazine. 2007-09-17. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
3. "Gina Nahai Pulls Back the Curtain on Iranian Jewish Culture in L.A." 20 October 2014.
4. ^ Innes, Charlotte (1999-06-07). "When Truth Is Given the Wings to Fly". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
5. ^ Grant, Gavin J. (2007-09-17). "Gina Nahai interview". IndieBound.org. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
6. "Articles by Gina Nahai". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
7. "55th SoCal Journalism Awards" (PDF). LA Press Club. Retrieved 2013-06-04.

External links

• Official Site
• Facebook fan page
• "Spinning Jinni" May 30, 1999, New York Times (review of Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith, by Edward Hower)

• Writing teachers
• University of Southern California faculty
• Living people
• 20th-century American novelists
• 21st-century American novelists
• American women novelists
• 1961 births
• American writers of Iranian descent
• Jewish American academics
• Jewish American novelists
• Jewish women writers
• 20th-century American women writers
• 21st-century American women writers
• American women academics
• 21st-century American Jews