Mossa­nen, best­selling author and recip­i­ent of the San Diego Edi­tors’ Choice Award, was born in Israel and moved to Iran at nine. Her grand­fa­ther intro­duced her to the real­i­ties the Jew­ish Quar­ter and the chal­lenges of being Jew­ish in a Mus­lim coun­try. Mossa­nen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture from UCLA and a Master’s of Pro­fes­sion­al Writ­ing from USC.