Nassim Assefi

Nassim Assefi received 2007 GAP Award funding to travel to Iran to complete research for her second novel, Say I am You, loosely based on her own life and that of a friend killed for “embracing democracy too quickly.” Her work addresses many themes, including: “courage in female form; the origins of humanitarianism; brain drain and its reversal; the diversity of the global Muslim community; the corrupted and misguided use of humanitarian funds; the colorful mélange of missionaries, mercenaries and misfits that find themselves doing aid work; and what it means to rebuild society in a ‘post-conflict’ country.”