Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Struggling to Learn or Teach Farsi? Mona Kiani’s ‘Finglisi’ Books Could Be The Solution

Mona Kiani, an Iranian-Australian who wanted her young son to learn Persian, has written the "Englisi Farsi User Guide", a book for children that avoids the need to master the Persian alphabet.

Censored Iranian Books Pop Up In Travelling Book Fair

By Cyrus Naji
A travelling fair of books banned in Iran is making its way around major Western cities. The 2nd Tehran Book Fair, Uncensored (ending May 14) highlights the reality of censorship in Iran and the innovative ways in which 15 publishers circumvent the restrictions.
video

Empress Farah Pahlavi Is Focus of New Book By France’s Frédéric Mitterrand

By Firouzeh Nabavi “Farah” is the title of the last book ever published by Frédéric Mitterrand, a onetime Culture Minister of France and a nephew of President François Mitterrand, who passed away on March 21....

Iranian-Born Novelist Shokoofeh Azar Nominated for International Booker Prize

By Nazanine Nouri This year’s International Booker Prize -- a global literary award for the best book translated into English and published in Britain or Ireland -- has an Iranian-born nominee: Shokoofeh Azar, for her...

Iran’s Government Closes Children’s Libraries to Cut Costs

By Kayhan Life Staff The Iranian government recently announced its plan to close some 1,000 libraries belonging to the Institute for the Development of Children and Young Adults, also known as the Center for the...

Marjane Satrapi Releases ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ Book With Fellow Illustrators

By Ahmad Rafat Seventeen Iranian and non-Iranian illustrators including Marjane Satrapi have released a book titled “Woman, Life, Freedom.” The book, originally published in French, has been translated into English and other languages, with Satrapi...

A Satire on the Iranian Diaspora: Interview with Author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

By Peyman Pejman Few cultures have seen as much disruption, assimilation, and contradiction as the Iranian culture has – and not just in the past few decades. Understanding the dynamics and parameters of cultural change...

Iran-Saudi Rivalry: How Far Does It Go? Interview with Author Simon Mabon

Simon Mabon is a lecturer in international relations at Lancaster University in the U.K. His book "Saudi Arabia and Iran: Soft Power Rivalry in the Middle East," which is currently being updated, is a...

How Central Asia Has Had a “Raw Deal” for 200 Years

When people think of Central Asia, they usually associate the region much more with the former Soviet Union than with Asia or even the Middle East – and sometimes even less so with Islam....

Book Review: Memoirs Of An Iranian Rebel, Masoud Banisadr

By Amir Taheri You are young and unhappy because you think your people lack the freedom they deserve. So, you join a group that promises a new dawn of humanity only if you agree to...