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I first met Khaled at a fundraiser for the Berkeley public libraries in January 2004. Both of our books had been published fairly recently, but I had not yet read The Kite Runner. I did, however, remember his name. From the first time I had seen the name "Khaled Hosseini" in print, I knew that he was from my part of the world. I was rooting for him without ever having read a word. Of course, once I read his book, I became an even bigger fan. Soon after our first meeting, we decided to meet for dinner with his wife, Roya, and my husband, François. It wasn't easy selecting a restaurant. Where do two Afghanis, one Iranian, and a Frenchman go for dinner? I suggested sushi. We ended up going to an Afghani restaurant, appropriately named Kabul. We have been friends since.

Khaled Hosseini: Why did you use humor to write your memoir?

Firoozeh Dumas: I never intended to write a funny book. It just came out that way. Before I started Funny in Farsi, I asked my husband one day if I had ever told him the story about the first time I went to summer camp. He said no. In fact, I had told no one. So I told him the story and he was laughing so hard that he was crying. I kept saying, "This is not a funny story. This is a sad story." And he kept shaking his head and saying, "This is the funniest story I've ever heard." And that's when I realized that sometimes, if you give something thirty years and if no one was hurt, some of life's less shining moments can be quite funny.

KH: You're very funny in person, Firoozeh. Fess up. Have you always been funny?

FD: My father is the absolute funniest person I have ever known. I never felt that I was funny, because compared to him few people are. People have always said to me, "Oh, you're so funny," but it never really registered. If people compliment you on your feet, it doesn't make you think you are going to grow up to be a foot model. I consider myself an accidental humorist. When I was in labor with my first child, I had days and days of contractions, followed by hours of childbirth, followed by an emergency C-section. At the end of what felt like an eternity, the doctor asked me if I wanted to see the placenta. Truth was, I didn't, but I felt like I should want to, so I said, "No, thank you. I just saw one on public television." The doctors and nurses all started laughing, but I was just trying to be polite. The last thing on my mind was being funny.

KH: Is Funny in Farsi available in Iran? If so, do you know what the reaction has been?

FD: Iran does not adhere to the international copyright laws, which means that any book can be translated without permission. The author has no control over the quality of the book. I did not want a bad translation of Funny in Farsi, because in writing my stories I was very careful about being funny without being insulting, and I was afraid that a bad translation would just be horribly embarrassing for my family. So I found my own translator in Iran. Once he finished the translation, he sent the manuscript to the censor's office, since no book can be published in Iran without government permission. Six months later, we got it back. (We were lucky. The translator of James Joyce's Ulysses handed in the manuscript seventeen years ago and is still waiting!) I had to remove a couple of small parts and the entire chapter "The Ham Amendment." I consider that chapter the soul of the book, so having to remove it was painful. That's life under an Islamic theocracy. The book has not yet reached the bookstores, so I have no idea how people will react. If Funny in Farsi is actually funny in Farsi, it will bring some levity to its readers in Iran, and I have the feeling they could use some levity right now.

KH: Since you are writing about real people, do you worry about the reaction of the people you have mentioned in your book? Not all the stories are flattering. How have you dealt with the inevitable "how could you say that about me" questions?

FD: Everybody who is in the book gave his blessing, except for my husband's family. We have since reunited with them, but we have never, ever discussed the book. That's one subject I will not be bringing up. Definitely not enough Mylanta in the world for that conversation. I have had a lot of complaints from relatives who are not in the book. They assumed it was because they are not important to me. And in true Middle Eastern fashion, they did not complain to me but to my parents. The truth is that if I wrote about all my relatives, it would be a fourteen-volume set.

KH: What has been the reaction of the Iranian community in America to Funny in Farsi?

FD: They love it. They keep thanking me for showing another side of the Iranian people to the world. Most Westerners think Middle Easterners just discuss politics and religion all day. We're actually quite fun.

KH: As a mother of two, when do you find the time to write? Where do you write? Do you have any writing rituals?

FD: I write in spurts. When I'm writing, I get up at 4:00 a.m. without using an alarm clock. Once a story is in my head, I'm possessed, and the only thing I can do is write like mad. This means the house gets very messy and dinner is something frozen. I do not read or go to the movies when I am writing, because I can't concentrate on anything else. I also keep writing in my head when I'm not actually writing, which means that I become a terrible listener. It's really a challenge trying to be a writer and a decent mom and wife. I'm just grateful to have an understanding family. Up until a few months ago, we lived in an 850-square-foot house, with one table that served all our needs. It was also my writing spot. I would just put my laptop there and type away until my kids got up.

I once saw a book about writers and their special writing spots. There were photos of spectacular cottages on lakes and woodpaneled rooms filled with travel mementos. I just always tried to make sure that the table was clean before I put down my laptop. I found out the hard way that glitter left over from my daughter's art projects really sticks to computers.

KH: I loved the story about the "F word." Do you have a favorite story?

FD: Every time I finished a story, I swore it was my favorite. Many of the stories still make me laugh out loud even though I have read them a hundred times. I still can't read "Girls Just Wanna Have Funds" without crying at the end.

Copyright © 2003 by Firoozeh Dumas. Excerpted by permission of Random House Trade Paperbacks, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Tags: Biographies & Memoirs

About the Author

Firoozeh Dumas graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She lives with her husband and children in Northern California.