Daniel Nayeri

Daniel Nayeri is an Iranian American author whose memoir Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) (2020) won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2021 and the Carnegie Medal. The book is told from the perspective of a young Iranian refugee named Khosrou (or Daniel) in an Oklahoma middle school classroom, who shares his family's story of fleeing persecution in Iran. Everything Sad Is Untrue blends truth and invention in a manner that draws on Persian storytelling traditions, and was widely praised for its formal ambition and emotional power. Nayeri was born in Isfahan, Iran, and emigrated to the United States as a child after his mother converted from Islam to Christianity. He has also written the Unicorn Rescue Society series and other middle grade fiction. He lives in New York City.