https://www.tabbyrefael.com/welcome daily 1.0 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/7def9288-50a1-4c9a-ae4d-3e258d98732b/TabsCover02_eyes_fixed.png About Tabby - Coming May 2027 In her debut book, award-winning writer and humorist Tabby Refael delivers a rarity in the realm of Iranian American literature: a comedic memoir that chronicles her life as a Jewish girl in fanatic, post-revolutionary Iran in the 1980s, and then, as a free and grateful, but unassimilated young refugee in Beverly Hills in the 1990s. Overnight, Tabby, her puritanical mother, optimistic father, and excited older sister escape the misogynistic oppression of Iran, where the morality police enforce mandatory dress codes through violence, only to arrive in a refugee resettlement municipality near Rome and accidentally find themselves at a nudist beach. After nearly a year, the family arrives in America, just in time for the Los Angeles riots. Part-mortifyingly funny stories about surviving both Ayatollah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein, and part-love letter to the 1990s, Death to Smarties: Stories of Oppression, Redemption, and Bad Chocolate proves that America can serve as both the cause of and the solution to unhinged internal dysfunction, and that humor may be found in everything, even dictators, war, and only slightly better, unwanted facial hair. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/996d27cf-4a41-47f0-9756-59d78ff472e8/Tabby+Headshots_Jul+27+2026_003.jpg About Tabby - Click here for my Substack. Click here for my Jewish Journal author page. Twitter & Instagram *First Place, Award for Excellence in North American Jewish History, 44th Annual Rockower Awards, American Jewish Press Association (2025) *Second Place, Humor/Satire Writing, 67th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, Los Angeles Press Club (2025) *First Place, Award for Excellence in Writing About Women, 43rd Annual Rockower Awards, American Jewish Press Association (2024) *Second Place, Columnist, 65th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, Los Angeles Press Club (2023) *First Place, Commentary, 64th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, Los Angeles Press Club (2022) https://www.tabbyrefael.com/about-tabby daily 0.75 2026-09-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1540412021424-GJV9FHSUM22YC7WJQJ92/Mom+%26+Tabby.jpg About Tabby https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1540412642681-IT2UQKZMVLW60I23VWMP/Tabby+Today.jpg About Tabby https://www.tabbyrefael.com/speaking-engagements daily 0.75 2026-09-15 https://www.tabbyrefael.com/news daily 0.75 2019-06-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1559759351505-RL626SSN3W726T9W0CZV/FB_IMG_1559165180139.jpg News https://www.tabbyrefael.com/los-angeles-magazine daily 0.75 2024-02-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609954037737-DU087U2CYPXJKL0FSR39/los-angeles-magazine-logo-black.png Los Angeles Magazine https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-humor-columns daily 0.75 2026-03-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609955927890-T6ABOFFG7E3KKXUF5KID/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Humor Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-iran-columns daily 0.75 2025-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609954154632-BVX11DG6WVTCW4LQ02IB/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Iran & the Middle East Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-identity-and-religion-columns daily 0.75 2025-07-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609956119686-HRPUS3YOBJ4XIYVT0BSO/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Identity and Religion Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-covid19-columns daily 0.75 2025-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609956410131-L324LOQ567EQP65R2629/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ COVID-19 Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-general-musings daily 0.75 2025-05-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609956563559-KGQ5JJ47CMCU2R0IQ8D6/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ General Musings https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-miscellaneous-columns daily 0.75 2025-07-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609956832443-EXWFHEGGP90MYOO6RRCB/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Miscellaneous Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/moment-magazine daily 0.75 2026-03-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609957015548-P7DY20ZW7QOULHP9NST0/moment-logo.png Moment Magazine https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-cover-stories daily 0.75 2026-05-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609954420369-V4V2J0R6UEF8PLULKQT9/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Cover Stories https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-mizrahi-advocacy-columns daily 0.75 2025-03-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1609960130733-TQ6ZYQBVFOZYFA3XMXDZ/jewish-journal-logo.jpg JJ Mizrahi Advocacy Columns https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-personality-profiles daily 0.75 2025-05-07 https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-book-reviews daily 0.75 2024-12-22 https://www.tabbyrefael.com/jj-antisemitism daily 0.75 2025-06-10 https://www.tabbyrefael.com/newsweek daily 0.75 2021-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5bb6601734c4e299001ae024/1628113364763-VQCTLR3FVSL2NREMFNW0/Newsweek-Logo-1000x.jpg Newsweek - 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