Additional information
by Roza Nozari (Author)
WINNER OF THE DAYNE OGILVIE PRIZE FOR LGBTQ2S+ EMERGING WRITERS - SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 TORONTO BOOK AWARD
From a queer Muslim woman and artist, a generous, heartfelt and insightful memoir about family and finding the path to one's truest self. The youngest of three daughters, and the only one born in Canada soon after her parents' emigration from Iran, Roza Nozari began her life hungry for a sense of belonging. From her earliest years, she shared a passion for Iranian cuisine with her mother and craved stories of their ancestral home. Eventually they visited and she fell in love with Iran's sights and smells, and with the warm embrace of their extended family. Yet Roza sensed something was amiss with her mother's happy, well-rehearsed story of their original departure.As Roza grew older, this longing for home transformed into a desire for inner understanding and liberation. She was lit up by the feminist texts in her women's studies courses, and shared radical ideas with her mother--who in turn shared more of her past, from protesting for the Islamic revolution to her ambivalence about getting married. In All the Parts We Exile, Roza braids a tender narrative of her mother's life together with her own ongoing story of self, as she arrives at, then rejects, her queer identity, eventually finds belonging in queer spaces and within queer Iranian histories, and learns the truth about her family's move to Canada.
Author Biography
ROZA NOZARI is a writer, artist and therapist based in Tkaronto ("Toronto") and known as YallaRoza on social media. Her work weaves together writing and visual art to share stories of wounding, healing and community. It invites radical reimaginings of our world, towards one more invested in collective healing and liberation. She is the illustrator of three children's books: Little People, Big Dreams' Mindy Kaling (2021), Fluffy and the Stars (2023) and The Anti-Racist Kitchen (2023). Her illustrations have been featured locally and internationally--from university campuses to sports arenas and pride festivals.
