Monday, December 4, 2023

Surviving 438 Days in a Maximum-Security Prison, Journalist Mohamed Fahmy Defends Iran’s Detainees

By Peyman Pejman
Egypt’s notorious maximum-security Scorpion prison is reserved for terrorists, criminals and high-level political prisoners. And yet that's exactly where Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy – at the time the bureau chief of Al Jazeera's English channel – spent a total of 438 days in captivity.

Iranian-Born Journalist Farah Nayeri Releases Book on Art and Censorship

By Natasha Phillips Artists are regularly monitored and censored nowadays in places such as the Middle East and Asia. According to a new book by Farah Nayeri, they face complicated challenges in the West, too. In...

Persepolis Celebrations Are Focus of New Book by UCLA’s Robert Steele

By Cyrus Kadivar In October 1971, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, held a celebration to commemorate the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great. The event was a...

CIA Interrogator Remembers Saddam Hussein’s Hatred of Iran in New Book

By Peyman Pejman
The U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 is a historical event of such significance that it will define the modern-day Middle East for years to come.

Want to Be a Video Journalist? Read Vivien Morgan’s New Book

By Peyman Pejman The advent of new technologies and the changing nature of journalism have given rise to a generation of amateurs and professionals who are using increasingly advanced videorecorders and digital cameras to document history as it happens.

“The Temporary Bride”: A Story of Love and Food in Modern Iran

By Julie Ershadi
Iranian heritage is rich in romantic tales involving legendary couples: Khosrow and Shirin, Leili and Majnun, Tahmineh and Rostam. A new memoir set in Iran and published by Twelve Books has almost as much drama and desire as its illustrious precedents.

War Correspondent and Novelist Peyman Pejman Discusses Journalism and Thriller Writing

As a fearless reporter and war correspondent, Peyman Pejman witnessed major milestones in the contemporary history of the Middle East: from the 1978-79 Iranian Revolution to the Israeli invasion of Beirut to the two...

Co-Founder of Chart-Topping Band “Shahin & Sepehr” Releases Novel

By Fred Parvaneh Sepehr Haddad — a recording artist who co-founded the band Shahin & Sepehr — has just released his debut novel, “A Hundred Sweet Promises,” based on a true family story told to...

Sixteen-Year-Old Underachiever is Hero of Arvin Ahmadi’s Debut Novel

By Fred Parvaneh “Down and Across,” published by Penguin Random House, is the debut novel by Iranian-American Arvin Ahmadi: a coming-of-age story of grit and self-discovery that follows Scott Ferdowsi, a high-school student with a...

Empress Farah Republishes Pre-Revolution Memoirs, Discusses Them in Harvard Interview

By Nazanine Nouri “1001 Days: Memoirs of an Empress” is the title of a memoir that Empress Farah Pahlavi wrote in 1976, three years before the Islamic Revolution. It was published in French in 1978,...