Said Sayrafiezadeh

Explore the life and work of Saïd Sayrafiezadeh — American playwright, memoirist, and fiction writer whose work traverses political memoir, short stories, plays, and identity. Discover his biography, influences, major works, and enduring impact.

Introduction

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh (born 1968) is an American author, playwright, and hybrid writer whose work blends memoir, fiction, and theatrical forms. His writing tends to explore identity, politics, allegiance, and the intersections of personal history and collective ideology. With roots in a politically radical upbringing, Sayrafiezadeh has become a distinctive voice in contemporary American letters, traversing genres and bringing intensity to themes of belonging, ideology, and estrangement.

Early Life, Family & Cultural Roots

According to public sources, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1968 and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mahmoud Sayrafiezadeh, was of Iranian descent, while his mother, Martha Harris, was Jewish. Socialist Workers Party.

From early childhood, Saïd was immersed in a world shaped more by ideology than by conventional popular culture; his parents’ political commitments had a profound effect on his upbringing and later work. University of Pittsburgh, but dropped out in his senior year.

His maternal uncle was the noted novelist Mark Harris, which suggests literary influence in his extended family.

Literary & Dramatic Career

Memoir & Personal Writing

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh first gained broader public notice through his memoir, When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood (published c. 2009).

In 2010, he won a Whiting Award in nonfiction, in recognition of the strength and originality of his memoir.

Fiction & Short Stories

Beyond his memoir, Sayrafiezadeh has published short fiction pieces and story collections. His first collection, Brief Encounters With the Enemy, was released in 2013 and was short-listed as a finalist for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for debut fiction.

In 2021, he published another collection, American Estrangement, which also was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize.

Some of his notable short stories include “Audition”, which reflects aspects of personal struggle, and works published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s, and others.

Playwriting & Theater Work

In addition to prose, Sayrafiezadeh has written for the stage. His plays have been produced or read in theater settings such as South Coast Repertory, New York Theatre Workshop, the Humana Festival of New American Plays, and Sundance Theatre Lab. Some of the known plays include:

• Autobiography of a Terrorist

• New York Is Bleeding

• Long Dream in Summer

• All Fall Away

His dramatic work often reflects the same tensions found in his prose: identity, politics, conflict, and personal dilemmas played out in intimate conflict.

Teaching and Academic Roles

Sayrafiezadeh is also active as an educator. He has served as a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Department at Hunter College. Columbia University and New York University. New York Foundation for the Arts.

Literary Themes & Style

• Ideology and Disillusionment
  Much of Sayrafiezadeh’s writing interrogates the consequences of rigid political belief and how it shapes personal life. His upbringing in a socialist milieu becomes both a lens and a burden in exploring identity.

• Divided Identities and Belonging
  With mixed heritage (Iranian father, Jewish mother) and a childhood split between radical politics and personal reality, Sayrafiezadeh often writes from the vantage of someone between worlds.

• Interior Lives & Stranded Characters
  His stories frequently feature characters who feel trapped, alienated, or caught between expectations and inner impulses.

• Sharp Prose & Minimalism
  Sayrafiezadeh’s writing style tends toward clarity, economy, and emotional tension. In interviews, he emphasizes opening lines that compel the reader with intrigue, and revising toward precision.

• Blending Forms
  Because he writes memoir, fiction, and plays, his work often blurs the boundaries between literary modes—incorporating dramatic tension even in prose, or introspective emphasis in theatrical texts.

Selected Works & Highlights

Major Books & Collections

• When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood (≈ 2009)

• Brief Encounters With the Enemy (2013) — short story collection, PEN/Bingham finalist

• American Estrangement (2021) — recent stories, exploring contemporary disaffection in America

Notable Plays & Dramatic Works

• Autobiography of a Terrorist

• New York Is Bleeding

• Long Dream in Summer

Selected Essays & Stories

• “Audition” (published in The New Yorker)

• “A Brief Encounter With the Enemy” (New Yorker)

• Other essays in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Granta, McSweeney’s etc.

Influence, Legacy & Position in Contemporary Letters

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh occupies a position among a set of contemporary writers who bridge political memoir, literary fiction, and dramaturgy—writers whose own lives are deeply entangled with ideological histories. His voice adds nuance to debates about identity, alienation, and the burdens of belief in 21st-century America.

In a political and cultural era marked by fracture, his work resonates with readers navigating ideological disillusionment, cultural displacement, and questions of loyalty. His relatively early success in multiple genres suggests his voice will remain influential for both writers and students of political literature.

Through his teaching roles, fellowship participation, and literary activism (e.g. via arts organizations), he contributes to cultivating new writers and expanding the reach of hybrid literary forms.

Lessons & Reflections

• The personal is political: Sayrafiezadeh’s life shows how one’s upbringing in politicized communities can become both subject and material for literary exploration.

• Genre fluidity is fertile: He demonstrates that writers need not confine themselves to a single form—they may move among memoir, fiction, theatre with coherence of voice.

• Writing is discipline and revision: In interviews, he emphasizes persistent work, attention to openings, and internal logic—even when inspiration feels elusive.

• Conflict is material: His writing often emerges from antagonism—between identity halves, political ideal and lived reality, public and private selves.

• Teaching deepens craft: He acknowledges that explaining writing to students has sharpened his own awareness of what works and why.