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Dora Levy Mossanen

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Dora Levy Mossanen is an American author of historical fiction. Her published works include Harem , Courtesan , The Last Romanov and Scent of Butterflies . She is a graduate of the USC Masters of Professional Writing Program and is the recipient of the San Diego State University Editor’s Choice Award.

Dora was born in Israel as the country was gaining its independence. She moved to Iran with her family when she was nine.

Joining a family whose roots went back 2,500 years in Persia, her first inspiration and invaluable source of history was her grandfather and renowned historian, Doctor Habib Levy. Dr. Levy introduced Dora to life in Mahaleh, the Jewish ghetto, anti-Semitism, and the challenges of being Jewish in a Moslem country.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979, the fall of the shah, and arrival of the Ayatollah Khomeini forced Mossanen and her family to leave Iran. They settled in California and became part of what is now the largest Iranian community in the United States.
In 1986, Dora obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of California Los Angeles, and in 1990 completed her master’s degree in Creative Writing from University of Southern California.

Tales she had treasured and horded from multiple geographies, cultures, and sensibilities, the outlandish characters she had come across, and the contradictions inherent in the Persian culture came to life in her bestselling novels Harem and Courtesan. Garnering critical and international acclaim, her works have been translated into numerous languages worldwide. She is the recipient of the prestigious San Diego Editors’ Choice Award.

Lured by the tumultuous political events of Imperial Russia, Mossanen decided to set her third novel, The Last Romanov, during the reign of Nicholas II. She extensively researched the Tsarist era, the political upheavals and long-drawn revolutions that led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, fall of the Romanovs, and the execution of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children. Mossanen studied the art, fashion, and ambience of that period, the characters and eccentricities of the Imperial family, and how their only son’s hemophilia devastated their personal life and wreaked havoc on the politics of the country. As in her previous novels, Mossanen weaved character of her own creation among historical figures, protagonists such as the opal-eyed Darya Borisovna and the Jewish Avram Bensheimer, whose great love test the rigid boundaries of an anti-Semite court steeped in myth and superstition.

Dora Levy Mossanen is a frequent contributor to numerous media outlets. She blogs for The Huffington Post, reviews fiction for the Jewish Journal and has been featured in various mediums and publications, including The Denver Post and Sh’ma. She has been featured on KCRW, Radio Iran and numerous television programs. In 2010, Dora was accepted as contributor to The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

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Dora Levy Mossanen

Dora Levy Mossanen

Books from Dora Levy Mossanen

The Last Romanov

Courtesan

Scent of Butterflies

Το χαρέμι

Love and War in the Jewish Quarter

Curtezane. Magia dragostei

Harem

Haremsrosen