How Much Do We Really Know About Our Mothers?

Oakland writer Laleh Khadivi said she wanted readers to have a kaleidoscopic view of women in her new novel, “Female Life on Planet Earth.” The story follows Heti, an Iranian-American woman who is grieving the loss of her mother — a woman who loved game shows, water aerobics and knitting. But a different version emerges in the aftermath of her death, when Heti sees an old photograph of her mother pointing a machine gun at a group of crying women during the Iranian revolution. Can Heti accept this version of her mother that she did not know? We talk with Khadivi about the relationship between women, violence and revolution — and the layers that exist inside of every woman.

Guest:

• Laleh Khadivi, author and chair of the University of San Francisco’s MFA Program