To me, the hardest thing in the world is writing about yourself. We want to present ourselves as something beyond what we are, yet we rarely become the people we imagine we will be.
If I had to introduce myself, I would say I am someone who loves stories. I think that, in the end, what remains of us is the story of our life. So let us try to leave a good story behind.
A great deal of my writing was never meant to be read. It has been a kind of therapy. Through many difficult days and nights, the prospect of writing was what kept me going. Perhaps, then, it cannot always be called literature.
These days, living outside Iran has given me a little more courage, and I censor myself less. We in the Middle East have grown accustomed to self-censorship: we do not want our words to cost us our lives. But sometimes silence is no longer possible. That is why I am sharing many of my older writings publicly again, even though I know they will not please supporters of the regime. They are not the sort of criticism that stays comfortably within the system’s accepted limits.
As for my personal life, I am a mechanical engineering graduate, someone who studied law, and a former lawyer. Beyond all those professional titles, I am someone who wants to know more.
For me, the whole purpose of writing is to raise a question, then draw us down a thousand unfamiliar paths in search of an answer.
If you would like to send me a personal message, you can reach me at hamed@zatajam.com.