"(Q: Who has influenced you most as a writer?) A: All the writers before me whom I have read. And even the writers I read these days. But Saedi was an important one. I read his sceneplays when I was a student. His stories have this ethereal quality that I genuinely enjoy. There was also Savushun, which I read as a student. Then there was Mahmoud Dolatabadi, whose characters were so powerful and familiar. Golshiri was another influence on me. He was a pioneer of using modern forms in Persian storytelling."