Homa Sarshar ( fa, هما سرشار; also Romanized as ''Homā Sarshār''; born 1946) is an Iranian-American author, activist, media personality, and award-winning

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. She was a columnist for Zan-e-Ruz magazine and the Kayhan daily newspaper between 1964 and 1978.

Early life

Sarshar was born in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

in 1946 to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family and raised in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. She moved to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and settled in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

one year before the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

in 1978. She studied French literature at Tehran University, earning a bachelor's degree in the subject. She later obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in journalism from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. In 1993, Sarshar joined

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

as an adviser.

Awards and honors

Sarshar received the

Ellis Island Medal of Honor The Ellis Island Medal of Honor is an American award founded by the Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) (formerly known as the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO)), which is presented annually to American citizens, both native-born ...

in 2013. In Iran, the Iranian Women's Organization of Tehran presented Sarshar with a Medal for Special Achievement in Women's Rights.

Bibliography

* Book of Now Ruz, Vol. 1–1988 * Book of Now Ruz, Vol. 2–1989 * Iranian Women's Image in Iranian Culture (ed.)–1993 * Iranian Women, Researches and Arts (ed.)–1993 * In the Back Alleys of Exile, 2 volumes–1993 * Women and Family in Iran and Abroad (ed.)–1994 * Women and Politics In Contemporary Iran (ed.)–1995 * Women, Sexuality and Islam (ed.)–1996 *

Shaban Jafari Shaban Jafari ( fa, شعبان جعفری; 19 August 1921 – 21 March 2006), often known as Shaban the Brainless ( fa, شعبان بی‌مخ, Sha'bān-e Bi-mokh, links=no) or Shaban the Crown-Bestower ( fa, شعبان تاجبخش, Sha'bān-e T ...

, Naab Publishers (2002) * Terua: The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews - Vol I (1996), * The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews –Vol II, Center for Iranian Jewish Oral; Chap-i (1996), * The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews –Vol III, Center for Iranian Jewish Oral; Unabridged edition (1999), * The History of Contemporary Iranian Jews –Vol IV, Center for Iranian Jewish Oral; Unabridged edition (2000)

References

External Links

Homa sarshar official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarshar, Homa 1946 births Living people Iranian Jews Iranian emigrants to the United States University of Tehran alumni USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni American women's rights activists American writers of Iranian descent 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers People from Shiraz American people of Iranian-Jewish descent 20th-century Iranian people 21st-century Iranian people