Once upon a time a little girl named Fatemeh Zarei sat shivering in a cold Tehran courtyard, longing for a fever and the dreams that it would bring. Later she took to recording her dreams in writing, and one inspired her first short story, titled The Life and Death of a Hunchback. That story and others were later published, albeit only after having been heavily censored by the state, in a collection titled Dreaming is My Profession (Cheshmeh Publishing, Tehran, 2009). 

In that same year, Fati, who has always been lucky, emigrated to the United States, after a friend put in an application to the visa lottery on her behalf. She continued her side hustle as a writer, publishing an uncensored (but also Farsi language) edition of her short story collection in 2011 (H&S Media, London). Next to appear was My Beloved Companion and Murderer, the story of a young girl discovering her sexuality (H&S Media, London, 2016). 

Since 2016, after a 26-year career in graphic design, Fati has devoted herself full-time to her writing. In February of 2023, she was signed for representation by The Rights Factory, on the strength of her first English-language novel, titled Lady Lemon’s Invitation.