‘Boarding School Girls’ Co-Author Ferdows Remembers Childhood Away from Home
By Fred Parvaneh
Roya Movahedi Ferdows and Soosan Daghighi were born in Iran and sent to different boarding schools in Britain at the age of 12. Their common childhood experiences are recounted in a new...
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...
Iranian-American Authors Publish New Collection of Real-Life Stories From the Diaspora
By Nazanine Nouri
“My Shadow is My Skin: Voices from the Iranian Diaspora” is a recently published collection of nonfiction stories spanning the period from the 1979 Iranian revolution to the present, written by 32...
Honoring the Sofreh Tradition: An Interview with Maryam Khosrowshahi
For centuries, Iranians have celebrated important occasions such as weddings and the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, with a unique tradition known as sofreh (Persian for 'spread.') Exquisite textiles are covered with flowers, fruits,...
Iran Revokes Publication Permit for Turkish Author Elif Shafak’s Novel
By Azadeh Karimi
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has revoked the publication permit for a novel by the award-wining Turkish-British author Elif Shafak, who was shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, according to...
Novelist Alexandra Monir Releases Murder Mystery, Has Film in Development with Sony Pictures
Alexandra Monir is a bestselling U.S.-based author of Iranian descent who sprang to fame in her early twenties with the young-adult novel “Timeless.” A paranormal romance, it quickly landed on the bestseller lists, and...
Author and Activist Masih Alinejad Speaks at LA Book Launch
By Fred Parvaneh
On October 8, a group of friends in Los Angeles (led by Dr. Behzad Tabatabaie, Betty Kermanian, Nooshin Meshkaty and Hormoz and Susan Azizzadeh) hosted an invitation-only book signing and speaking engagement for...
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’s Napoleon” in Exile: Reza Shah’s Life After Abdication Is Evoked in New Book...
By Tim Cornwell
When the wife of the British governor of Mauritius learned that Reza Shah, the former Shah of Iran, was to make the island his home in exile, she went out of her...
Armenian Women’s Role in the History of Modern Iran: Author Interview
By Adom Sabanchian
The Armenian community in Iran has a long and rich history.
There are the indigenous Armenians who inhabited the territory that is Iran for millennia. And there are those who migrated to Iran...
