Tahereh Mafi

Born in Connecticut to Iranian parents, Tahereh Mafi grew up in California and studied at Soka University of America.

In 2011 Mafi published her first novel Shatter Me – a YA dystopian thriller about a 17-year-old girl whose touch paralyzes and kills, living in a world under a harsh dictatorship. It was followed by the equally successful sequel Unravel Me in 2013, and subsequently by Ignite Me (2014), Restore Me (2018), Defy Me (2019) and Imagine Me (2020). Mafi has also written several novellas set in the Shatter Me universe.

Her other novels include the middle grade fantasy adventure Furthermore (2018), A Very Large Expanse of the Sea (2018) – a contemporary YA novel set in the aftermath of 9/11 – and the Persian mythology-inspired YA fantasy This Woven Kingdom (2022).