Farzana Marie is a poet and Ph.D. at the University of Arizona's School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, where she focuses on Persian Literature, with a minor in Creative Writing. She holds a B.S. in Humanities from the U.S. Air Force Academy and an M.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Farzana’s poetry and translations have appeared in print and on-line journals. She served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force for over six years, including two consecutive years deployed in Afghanistan, where she also served as a civilian volunteer at a Kabul orphanage in 2003-2004. She is the author of a collection of Persian Dari poetry in translation, Load Poems Like Guns: Women’s Poetry from Herat, Afghanistan (Holy Cow! Press, 2015); a poetry chapbook, Letters to War and Lethe (Finishing Line Press, 2014); and a nonfiction book, Hearts for Sale! A Buyer's Guide to Winning in Afghanistan (Worldwide Writings, 2013). She had a stroke on the 29th of August, 2015 in Kabul, Afghanistan and is gradually rebuilding her use of words.