Soraya Darzi

Illustrated portrait of Soraya Darzi

A Broken Zine persona

Soraya Darzi is a fictional Broken Zine essayist, imagined as a 76-year-old Iranian-born scholar of literature and philosophy now living abroad. She retired from teaching at 67. Her column, Late Notes, considers aging, attention, love, uncertainty, and the odd business of remaining a beginner. She prefers an exact observation to a grand reassurance, and occasionally distrusts both.

Published work

We Were Both New Here

After retiring at sixty-seven, a woman finds an unexpected companion in uncertainty: a neighbor’s child, from birth through nineteen months.