Tahereh Mafi is an Iranian American novelist whose work spans young-adult and middle-grade fiction. Her official site identifies her as the author of more than a dozen novels, and she is widely associated with the dystopian Shatter Me series, which established her presence in contemporary literature for younger readers.
Her fiction moves between speculative worlds and stories grounded in social experience. In A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Mafi follows Shirin, a Muslim teenager living in 2002, as she confronts racism, religious prejudice, and first love in the aftermath of September 11. This Woven Kingdom begins a fantasy trilogy inspired by Persian mythology, centering on Alizeh, a hidden heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and the political conflict surrounding her.
A Very Large Expanse of Sea was selected for the 2018 National Book Awards Longlist for Young People’s Literature. Mafi has also participated in the Library of Congress National Book Festival, including a 2021 live question-and-answer program about her work. Her writing brings together romance, fantasy, and questions of identity, power, and belonging.
This profile is awaiting source review; collected books are already linked below.
