Women in Iranian literature

In the past few years, more and more Iranian women have been publishing novels. An article in the New York times states that “the number of women who have published novels has reached 370, said Hassan Mirabedini, a scholar of Iranian literature. [...]While the average Iranian novel is issued in print runs of 5,000 copies, some women's books have enjoyed printings exceeding 100,000.” Up until a few decades ago it was considered improper for a woman to express her feelings through writing and women had to use pseudonyms in order to publish their books. As one will find if they read enough memoirs by Iranian women, the 1979 revolution forced educated and westernized women out of their jobs as they became increasingly marginalized by the system and they turned to self employment. Since the revolution there has been an explosion of works, especially memoirs, by Iranian women, so much so that just this month the Iranian fictional literature foundation held “The first Women Writers' Conference” in Tehran's Enghelab Hotel. Below you will find a selection of books by Iranian women. Should you wish to read up on the subject we suggest you read this article on the Iran chamber society’s website or the New York Times article.

	Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi In this gripping memoir Azar Nafisi recounts her memories of the years that she spent in Iran as a professor in English literature through the books that she taught, amongst which are works by Nabokov, Fitzagerald, James, and Austen. After resigning from her teaching position at the University of Tahran, Nafisi invites seven of her best female students to attend a secret book club. For two years, every week, they meet to discuss books that had been banned by the authorities. Slowly, these meetings turn into a platform for discussing their personal lives as well as the social and political realities of Iran in the mid nineties.
	If I Were God: The Writings of Forough Farokhzad by Forough Farokhzad Forough Farokhzad is arguably Iran’s most controversial and most influential poet of the last century. After the Islamic revolution Farokhzad’s poems were banned for a decade. Her brother, Fereydoun Farrokhzad, was also a controversial figure. The singer, actor, poet, TV and radio host, writer, and political opposition figure was stabbed at his home in Bonn, Germany. Forough wrote about love, sex, morality, politics and religion in a candide language. This collection of letters, interviews and poems, beautifully depict this infamous poet’s short life.
	Persian Girls: A Memoir by Nahid Rachlin Nahid Rachlin is the critically acclaimed author of Foreigners and Married to a stranger.  Four novels into her writing career she has finally decided to look back at her own life. The result is a gripping memoir about two sisters, Nahid and Pari. Growing up in Iran, both refuse to adhere to the ways imposed on them and dream of careers in the arts. Their fates diverge when Pari is coerced by her father into marrying a wealthy man, and Nahid convinces their father to allow her to pursue her studies in the U.S. When Nahid learns of her sister’s untimely death she travels back to Iran to figure out the intricacies of her sisters life, her divorce from an abusive husband and her estrangement from her son. A podcast of Nawal el Saadawi discussing her work can be found on this link .
	Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes by Nahal Tajadod On a visit to her relatives in Tehran, Nahal, an Iranian academic, finds herself having to renew her French passport. Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes is the humorous account of her journey through the bureaucratic loopholes of the system. On her way she meets colourful characters and ultimately discovers that Iranians only have one weapon in the face of the absurdity that surrounds them and that is laughter.
	Daneshvar's Playhouse: A Collection of Stories by Simin Daneshvar Simin Daneshvar was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1921. She received her Doctorate in Persian literature, worked as a Fulbright scholar with Wallace Stegner at Stanford University, and was a professor at Tehran University. Her collection of Persian short stories, published in 1948, was the first by an Iranian woman writer,  her acclaimed novel Savushun was the first novel ever published by an Iranian woman and the her mentioned book is  the first volume of translated stories by an Iranian woman author. In this collection of five stories the eminent Iranian feminist gives us a window on a traditional culture in time of change while expressing her strong views on political tyranny and religious fanatics.
	That Stranger Within Me: A Foreign Woman Caught in the Iranian Revolution  by Shokooh Mirzadegi Over the past four decades, Shokooh Mirzadegi has been one of the most active figures in the Iranian literary community, both inside and outside Iran. Jailed many a times both before and after the revolution she was finally forced into exile. This was book,which was her first to be translated into English, is a fictional story of a foreign woman caught in the web of the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution.