Thurber House will present An Evening with Firoozeh Dumas on Wednesday, May 14, at the Columbus Museum of Art. The reading will begin at 7:30 p.m., and there is a cocktail reception from 6 to 7 p.m.

Dumas was a finalist for the 2005 Thurber Prize for Humor for her national bestseller, Funny in Farsi, and she is a judge for the 2008 Thurber Prize. Dumas will read from Laughing Without An Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Abroad, her new collection of personal essays and stories about growing up Iranian-American in Southern California.

Dumas was born in Iran and moved to California with her family when she was seven. After two years, the family moved back to Iran, and then, two years later, they once again moved to Southern California, but this time they stayed. Dumas attended the University of California at Berkeley where she met her future husband, a Frenchman.

Alexander McCall Smith says of Laughing Without An Accent: “These stories, like everything Firoozeh Dumas writes, are charming, highly amusing vignettes of family life. Dumas is one of those rare people — a naturally gifted storyteller.” 

During the reception and following the reading, books will be available for purchase, and after the reading, Dumas will sign books. Tickets for the reception are limited and are $40, which includes the reading.

Tickets are $22 in advance, for the reading only; $25 at the door. For seniors and students, tickets are $19 in advance, for the reading only; $22 at the door. To purchase tickets, call 614-464-1032 or visit www.thurberhouse.org.