Persis Karim
American poet, educator, editor (born 1962)
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Persis Maryam Karim (born 1962)[1] is an American poet, essayist, editor, and educator. Her work focuses on Iranians living outside of Iran, specifically Iranian Americans, and their complicated histories and identities which is often presented through storytelling.[2][3][4] She served as the Neda Nobari Distinguished Chair and director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University (SFSU) from 2017 to 2025.[5][6]
1962 (age 63–64)
Persis Karim | |
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Karim in 2016 | |
| Born | Persis Maryam Karim 1962 (age 63–64) Walnut Creek, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Texas at Austin |
| Occupations | Poet, editor, educator |
| Known for | Iranian Diaspora Studies, Iranian American Studies |
| Website | persiskarim |
Biography
Persis Maryam Karim was born in 1962 in Walnut Creek, California.[1] Her father was an Iranian, born in Paris; her mother was French and had immigrated from Dijon, France.[7][8][9][10] She was the youngest child in her family (with six siblings and two step-siblings), and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.[11][7][12]
Karim attended the University of California, Santa Cruz (BA 1985), and University of Texas at Austin (PhD 1998, comparative literature).[11] She had studied under poet Al Young.[12]
Karim is known for editing anthologies and sharing the stories of Iranian-Americans, including A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans (1999) and Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers (2013).[3][13] From 1999 until 2017, Karim worked at San José State University, where she was a co-director of its Persian Studies Program.[11][14]
Karim and Soumyaa K. Behrnes co-directed the documentary film The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life (2024), which follows the Iranian diaspora community in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1950s until present day.[15]
The Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies is scheduled to close in 2025.[6]
Publications
- Karim, Persis Maryam (1993). The Search for History in Persian Fiction: The Case of Simin Daneshvar's Savushun. University of Texas at Austin.
- Karim, Persis Maryam (1998). Fissured Nations and Exilic States: Displacement, Exile, and Diaspora in Twentieth-century Writing by Women (dissertation). University of Texas at Austin.
- Karim, Persis M.; Khorrami, Mohammad Mehdi (1999). A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian-Americans. George Braziller. ISBN 9780807614457.[16][17]
- Karim, Persis M. (2006). Let Me Tell You Where I've Been: New Writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora. Al Young (Forward). University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 9781557288202.[18][19]
- Amirrezvani, Anita; Karim, Persis, eds. (2013). Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers. University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 9781610755191.[20]
Contributions
- Parsipur, Shahrnush (2004). Women Without Men: A Novel of Modern Iran. Persis M. Karim (Afterword), Kamran Talattof (Translator), Jocelyn Sharlet (Translator). Feminist Press at the City University of New York. ISBN 9781558614529.
- Karim, Persis (2018-08-29). "Iranians Have Always Lived Limbo in the United States. Now it is Chaos". The Washington Post. ISSN 2641-9599.