As part of One Book Agnes Irwin – a school-wide reading project that promotes literacy and strengthens community ties – author Firoozeh Dumas shared her hilarious tales with Agnes Irwin students and parents, as well as the public, about moving to America from Iran in the 1970s.

“The story of Firoozeh Dumas, as she writes about it in Funny in Farsi, is as relevant and current as it was when she lived through her immigration experiences in the 1970s,” said Mariandl Hufford, M.S.Ed., Ed.M., Director of the Center for the Advancement of Girls at The Agnes Irwin School.  “Recent and current events in the Middle East must once again raise our consciousness about Middle Eastern culture, about the assumptions we make about the role of women. Underneath the humor in Firoozeh’s story lies an indistinguishable human truth: our universal search for acceptance, for belonging, for friendship and love.”

This year, One Book Agnes Irwin focuses on books that tell the stories of girls who are not, by birth, American. Their stories are compelling in that they share with us a common human experience. Funny in Farsi, a poignant and funny memoir that chronicles the author’s move to America in 1971 at age seven, is one such connecting story, describing Firoozeh’s adventures, the difficulties of living in a new country and the antics of her extended family.

For the past seven years, Firoozeh has traveled internationally reminding us that our commonalities far outweigh our differences…and doing so with humor. “What we all need to do is talk to one another,” said Ms. Dumas of the ways people can connect to others from another countries and ease tension. “Whenever the opportunity comes along, make those bridges.”

She has spoken at conferences, schools, universities, churches, Jewish temples and Islamic centers. Everywhere she has gone, she said, audiences have embraced her message of shared humanity.