In 2000, she received a National Poetry Series award for her poetry book, "That Kind of Sleep." She was born first-generation American to Iranian parents, and explores themes related to her experience as an American of Middle Eastern descent and of the presentation of those in the Middle East. Her projects will include a second book of poetry, a second book of nonfiction/memoir, an anthology that will include more than 20 authors, and a series of scholarly volumes on Middle Eastern American writing. She has been at Hope since 1999.