Photo credit: Bernardo Conti.

Known For: Journalist, travel writer, and broadcaster
Dates: 1969 CE -
Country: Iran

About

In 1979 Kamin Mohammadi’s life changed forever – hers, and the lives of all her family and countrymen. As the last shah fell and the country was gripped by revolution, nine-year-old Kamin and her sister, mother and father fled Iran, leaving behind their large, close-knit family. Bewildered by the seismic changes in her homeland, she turned her back on the past and spent her teenage years trying to fit in with British attitudes to family, food and freedom.

Nearly 20 years later Kamin was finally drawn back to Iran. There she discovered the story of her family, a sprawling clan that sprang from humble roots to bloom during the affluent, Biba-clad 1960s, only to be shaken by the horrors of the Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and the heartbreak of exile, and toughened by the struggle for democracy that continues today.

The Cyprus Tree, her moving and passionate memoir is a love letter both to Kamin’s extraordinary family and to Iran itself, an ancient country which has survived so much modern tumult but where joy and resilience will always triumph over despair.

Kamin Mohammadi was born in Iran in 1969 and exiled to the UK in 1979. She is an experienced journalist, travel writer and broadcaster who has written for the British and international press including The Times, the Financial Times, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire and the Guardian as well as co-authoring The Lonely Planet Guide to Iran. She has recently been nominated for a National Magazine Award by the American Society of Magazine Editors. She is currently living between London and Italy.