Only 18 and Already a Star: Iranian-African-American Comedian Yara Shahidi
Yara Shahidi is the Iranian-African-American star of the critically acclaimed ABC show Black-ish (which ran from 2014 until earlier this year) and an outspoken advocate for diversity in Hollywood and the importance of education...
Iranian Women’s Fight for Their Rights: Interview with Author Manda Zand Ervin
By Nazenin Ansari
Manda Zand was born in Boroujerd, the capital of Lorestan, in the western Zagros mountains. She traces her paternal lineage to the Zand tribe, historically famous for its courageous women who fought...
Roxanne Varza, “Queen of French Startups,” Heads World’s Largest Startup Incubator
By Nazanine Nouri
Roxanne Varza is known in France as the Queen of French Startups. The Iranian-American runs Station F -- the world’s largest startup incubator – in Paris. Varza is considered one of the...
Remembering Dr. Rebecca Bet-Alkhas Irani, Pioneering Assyrian-Iranian Physician
By Reza Raein
Dr. Rebecca “Nora” Bet-Alkhas Irani, the first female Assyrian physician in Iran and one of the first Iranian-educated doctors to complete their training and residency in the West, passed away peacefully on...
How Gender Reassignment Works in Iran: Interview with Shaya Goldoost
The number of transgender persons who have decided to undergo sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in Iran has significantly increased in recent years, according to the health website Salamat News (salamatnews.com), citing a report by...
Author Nahal Tajadod Releases New Novel, Praises Iranians’ Unique Qualities
By Katayoun Halajan
Nahal Tajadod is an Iranian author and scholar based in Paris. Her published works include a biography of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic (“Rumi: The Fire of Love” or “Sur les Pas de Rumi”); a book of Mawlana’s translated poems (“Le Livre de Chams de Tabriz – Cent poèmes”); a history of the church in Persia (“Les Porteurs de Lumière – L’Epopée de L’Eglise de Perse”); and an account of the mini-saga that she experienced renewing her Iranian passport (“Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes”).
Nahal Tajadod is an Iranian author and scholar based in Paris. Her published works include a biography of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic (“Rumi: The Fire of Love” or “Sur les Pas de Rumi”); a book of Mawlana’s translated poems (“Le Livre de Chams de Tabriz – Cent poèmes”); a history of the church in Persia (“Les Porteurs de Lumière – L’Epopée de L’Eglise de Perse”); and an account of the mini-saga that she experienced renewing her Iranian passport (“Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes”).
Iranian-Born Financier Abbas Jafarian Reaches South Pole In Charity Trek
By Fred Parvaneh
On December 18, Abbas Jafarian and his two South American companions reached the South Pole after a nine-day trek on skis. Their Antarctic expedition began on December 4, when they boarded an Ilyushin...
Misogyny Is Rooted in Iranian History and Culture, Says Dr. Shokoufeh Taghi
By Kayhan Life Staff
Honor killings have increased at an alarming rate in recent years in Iran. While institutionalized patriarchy and misogyny are endemic in the Islamic Republic, there are also prevalent in popular culture...
Taking Her Fight to the French Senate, Homayra Sellier Defends Yazidi Women, Refugees
Interview by Peyman Pejman
Nadia Murad is a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was raped in Iraq by the so-called Islamic State, commonly referred to by its acronyms ISIS or ISIL. “You decide whether it is...
Nowruz Events in the U.S.
By Fred Parvaneh
From coast to coast and in every major city in the US, Iranian-Americans celebrate the arrival of the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, which coincides with the first day of Spring.
This year’s...
