Before she became a San Diego author, Zohreh “Zoe” Ghahremani grew up in Iran.
“I am not part of that community, but that country did a lot for me," Ghahremani says.
She came to the U.S. in the 70s as a young woman to marry her husband and build a career as a pediatric dentist.
But she never let go of her first love: “I have always been a writer too," she says.
She spent decades practicing dentistry and then, at 50, she made a decision that surprised the people around her.
"Had a very successful practice and a lot of people thought I had lost my mind," Ghahremani says. "But I had not, and it's the best decision I've ever made.”
She followed her dreams to become a full-time writer. It became a way to give her children, and eventually thousands of readers, a window into a culture they didn't know firsthand.
“I did that for my 3 children, born and raised Americans who have never been to Iran and don't know what happened, if it was as great as my parents tell me it was, why did they have to live here? Why was there a revolution? I wanted to answer their questions," Ghahremani says.
Her books now explore immigration, family, bi-cultural identity and Persian culture.
Those stories are now children’s books, drawn to life through her daughter Susie’s animations.
Her latest work is another way of passing those stories down, and she says that's why reading itself still matters, especially now: “Never ever stop and encourage your kids to read because they are the future of literature as we know it.”
This Saturday, Zoe will be one of dozens of authors featured at the PBPS San Diego Book Festival.
“When you stop reading. Then everything becomes suddenly so quiet, so still. The rest of the world doesn't exist," Ghahremani explains. "There are so many good books by, by so many writers, and when I can't travel, I read. It takes me to new places. It gives me a new look at life"
A woman who spent decades as a dentist, and then reinvented herself as a writer, now hopes the next generation will keep turning the page.
