I am haunted by what my life would have been had I not had the courage in my early twenties to leave Pittsburgh for New York City and really commit to being a writer. Pittsburgh is both post-industrial and provincial,… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
The year the bus drivers went on strike in Pittsburgh, I was twenty-three and living on the edge of the city in a neighborhood that was on the verge of becoming a ghetto. I had just been fired from a… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
The benefit of writing a collection - as opposed to a novel - is that I'm able to have some version of the war… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
I was trying to hold up a mirror to this country, to reflect the past years or so, and the varying degrees in which we've been affected by the war(s) that doesn't seem to end. And we've all been affected somehow, even if we have no connection to the military, even if we don't know anyone who's killed or been… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share
We were poor, my mother and I, living in a world of doom and gloom, pessimism and bitterness, where storms raged and wolves scratched… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
The difference between our family and other poor families was that my mother actively chose to be poor. She was highly literate, and she… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
My sister married an American and took his name, and my brother has shortened Sayrafiezadeh to Sayraf. So now he's Jacob Sayraf, or sometimes Jake Sayraf. He made the change when he was a teenager, prior to the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis. So I don't think it was motivated by any anti-Iranian sentiment in the United States. — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share
I sometimes have to write for a while before I figure it out, pretend that I know what I'm doing, sort of like ad-libbing… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
I suppose my Iranian identity is one of the driving forces for being a writer: I want to set the record straight about who… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
[Ending] is partly drawn from a desire to shock the audience, to brutally de-romanticize what many Americans think is happening overseas. And partly drawn… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
My childhood was defined by my father's absence. His presence looms so large. Up until the age of 18, he was a superstar for me. — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
I don't work with an outline, except a vague one in my head, a general idea of character, place, arc... I'm like a composer… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
There's always been something a little pathetic for me at the work parties I've attended, especially thinking back to the restaurants I worked in.… — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
My characters are not underachievers; they aspire to great things, but they are limited by the world around them. — Said Sayrafiezadeh Copy Share Image
![“[Ending] is partly drawn from a desire to shock the audience, to brutally de-romanticize what many Americans think is happening overseas. And partly drawn from my own childhood: violence and a loss of innocence. But keep in mind that, as a writer, I'm both the criminal and the victim. I'm not…” quote by Said Sayrafiezadeh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/1c0/said-sayrafiezadeh-16091_audience_ending-is-partly-drawn-from-a-desire-to_597129.jpg)
