The Bakersfield Voice

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Firoozeh Dumas, bestselling author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, will be speaking at 7 p.m., November 10th, 2008 at CSUB’s Icardo Center.

Funny in Farsi was chosen as the 2008-2009 Runner Reader selection, in support of CSUB’s Roadrunner Resources for Undergraduate Success and High-Achievement (RUSH-A) First-Year Experience Program. The goal of the program is to “build, nurture, and sustain a vibrant educational community at CSUB committed to academic and personal success of undergraduate students ‘in transition’,” including first-time freshmen, transfer students, and re-entry students. All students in CSUB 101/301 (introduction to the university courses) and English composition courses will read and discuss the book in an effort to create a shared learning experience, promote a sense of community, and help ease the transition into college. 

This fall, the Runner Reader program is also expanding to local high schools, in an effort to foster a stronger connection between high school and college. High school students will read Funny in Farsi and will complete the same assignments as their collegiate counterparts. Roughly 500 students at Arvin High School read last year’s selection, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otuska. This year, approximately 2000 students from six additional high schools, including Frontier, Liberty, North, Shafter, Stockdale, and West High Schools, have been invited to participate in the program.

Funny in Farsi was a finalist for the PEN/USA award in 2004 and a finalist in 2005 for an Audie Award for best audio book. Dumas was also a finalist for the prestigious Thurber Prize for American Humor, the first Middle Eastern woman ever to be so honored. Dumas’ second book, Laughing Without an Accent, was published by Random House in May.

“An Evening with Firoozeh Dumas” will feature a talk by the author, a Question-and-Answer session, and book signing. Writing awards, for both CSUB students and high school students, will also be presented. The event is free and open to the public and everyone is highly encouraged to attend. Copies of both of Dumas’ books will also be available for sale.

If you would like to help purchase copies of Funny in Farsi for local high school students or if you would like to know more about the Runner Reader Program, the RUSH-A Program, or “An Evening with Firoozeh Dumas,” please contact Dr. Emerson Case at 661-654-6281 or at ecase@csub.edu.