Porochista Khakpour interview

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Porochista Khakpour interview, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects: A Novel. To find out more about the author, please visit our Porochista Khakpour page.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Tehran, Iran in 1978 and raised in Los Angeles, CA.

What was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?

I came from a refugee family that fled Iran during the Revolution---for many years we didn't have a stable home as we traveled throughout Europe and the States. The only "toy" I was really able to travel with were some books, pen, and paper. I began trying to create books like the ones I was reading. Also, I was constantly talking and mimicking my parents' storytelling styles, so I became ayoung storyteller.

I kept it up.

By age 11 or 12, I had written 2 novels--in pencil on unlined paper.

During my teens I read more and wrote less and then at Sarah Lawrence College I began writing "full time" again--except for one delusional year, when I thought maybe I was a poet.

I was not.

Which writers have influenced you the most?

I am not sure about "influenced," but they definitely made me excited to write and be a writer: David Foster Wallace, Donald Barthelme, William Faulkner, James Salter, Salman Rushdie.

What kind of things do you write?

Novels. I am trying to become better at short stories. I also write quite a number of articles and essays.

What are you working on now?

A short story, notes on a new novel, 2 articles.

What is your writing day like?

Writing emails, mostly. Sadly.

What's the most exciting thing about writing for you?

With a big project like a novel particularly, it's being insulated in an alternate universe and always having something to come home to.

What's the most frustrating thing about writing for you?

Getting started

What's the best piece of feedback that you've had from your audience?

Relax

Do you write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?

Everyone except my parents

Do you have a homepage? Do you have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the URLs):

my blog :

http://www.porochistakhakpour.blogspot.com/

my grove/atlantic page:

http://www.groveatlantic.com/grove/bin/wc.dll?groveproc%7Egenauth%7E5226

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