Massud Alemi

Massud Alemi was born in Tehran, Iran, and emigrated to the United States for higher education in 1977. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 provided the excuse he needed to study history. He's been preoccupied with the roots of the Islamic revolution in the country of his birth, a preoccupation that led him to writing. He graduated from George Mason University in Virginia, and went on to get an MBA.

Interruptions (2008) is his debut; it's about the personal fallout of large scale political events, and the machinations by which an ordinary person is caught in a scheme of larger ideological conflicts. It's also a tale about how insignificant choices often lead to monumental consequences, and in particular the futility of the individual in the context of a political juggernaut. Alemi believes the biggest sin of traditional societies is that they always sacrifice the individual for the collective whim.

The love story in Interruptions takes place in one of the tumultuous periods of recent Iranian history. It's after World War II when unprecedented openness and freedom descended upon the nation. The political and social background gives the story a unique flavor that you'd want to read and perhaps gain a new appreciation for Iran's struggle. Secondly, the characters are unique in not accepting their fate, wanting more out of life. It is the force of their need that propels the story. That need coupled with the inadequacies of the characters and their lack of any tools to deal with their inadequacies (and of course, the particular background of the story) causes disruptions at different levels in their lives. "Interruption in every aspect of people's lives is a real thing, and needs to be acknowledged, and so this is what my novel is about."