Quick Facts
Biography
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh /sɑːˈiːd ˌsɛərəfiˈzɑːdeɪ/ (born 1968) is an American memoirist and fiction writer living in New York City. He won a 2010 Whiting Award for his memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free. His short-story collection, Brief Encounters With the Enemy, was short-listed for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction. He serves on the board of directors for the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Background
Sayrafiezadeh was born in Brooklyn, New York, to an Iranian father and an American Jewish mother, both of whom were members of the Socialist Workers Party. He was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His maternal uncle is the novelist Mark Harris. He lives in New York City.
Work
Fiction
Sayrafiezadeh wrote the 2013 short-story collection Brief Encounters With the Enemy. His stories and personal essays have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Granta, and McSweeney's.
Memoir
Sayrafiezadeh wrote the 2009 memoir When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood about his childhood in the Socialist Workers Party.
Plays
Sayrafiezadeh's plays include New York is Bleeding, Autobiography of a Terrorist, All Fall Away, and Long Dream in Summer. They have been produced or read at South Coast Repertory, New York Theatre Workshop, The Humana Festival of New American Plays, and at The Sundance Theatre Lab.