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Azar Nafisi

Born

in Tehran, Iran

December 01, 1948

Genre

Nonfiction

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Azar Nafisi (Persian: آذر نفیسی) is an Iranian American writer and scholar of English literature whose work explores the political and imaginative power of books. Born in Tehran, she grew up in a family deeply engaged in public life. Her father served as mayor of the city in the early 1960s, while her mother was among the first women elected to the National Consultative Assembly. As a teenager, she left Iran to study in England and later Switzerland, eventually completing her university education in the United States. She earned a doctorate in English and American literature from the University of Oklahoma before returning to Iran shortly before the 1979 Revolution.
Nafisi began teaching at the University of Tehran, but her refusal to comply Azar Nafisi (Persian: آذر نفیسی) is an Iranian American writer and scholar of English literature whose work explores the political and imaginative power of books. Born in Tehran, she grew up in a family deeply engaged in public life. Her father served as mayor of the city in the early 1960s, while her mother was among the first women elected to the National Consultative Assembly. As a teenager, she left Iran to study in England and later Switzerland, eventually completing her university education in the United States. She earned a doctorate in English and American literature from the University of Oklahoma before returning to Iran shortly before the 1979 Revolution.
Nafisi began teaching at the University of Tehran, but her refusal to comply with mandatory veiling laws led to her expulsion in 1981. After a period of political and cultural uncertainty, she resumed teaching at Allameh Tabataba’i University. Her relationship with the institution remained fraught, and by the mid 1990s she had distanced herself from formal academic life. From 1995 to 1997, she held weekly literary discussions in her home for a group of female students, creating an intimate space where they read and interpreted novels considered unwelcome by the authorities. These meetings became the foundation for her most influential book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, a memoir that intertwines literature, personal reflection, and the lived realities of women in post-revolutionary Iran.
Nafisi moved to the United States in 1997 and later became a citizen. Her subsequent work continued to explore the role of books in shaping identity, imagination, and civic life. She has written widely for major newspapers and literary outlets and has held academic and public-intellectual roles at Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, and Oxford. Her books include Things I’ve Been Silent About, The Republic of Imagination, That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile, and Read Dangerously, each extending her conviction that literature offers a unique form of moral and imaginative resistance.
Her writing has received significant critical acclaim, earning awards for both literary merit and intellectual courage. In 2024, Reading Lolita in Tehran was adapted for film with Golshifteh Farahani portraying Nafisi. Throughout her career, she has spoken and written about the intersections of culture, authoritarianism, and personal freedom, insisting on the enduring relevance of literature in societies confronting political pressure. Her work continues to spark debate, admiration, and reflection across a wide international readership. ...more

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Average rating: 3.69 · 155,272 ratings · 11,566 reviews · 20 distinct works • Similar authors

	Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books 3.66 avg rating — 140,271 ratings — published 2003 — 136 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Things I've Been Silent About 3.73 avg rating — 4,984 ratings — published 2008 — 60 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times 4.04 avg rating — 2,063 ratings — published 2022	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books 3.78 avg rating — 1,627 ratings — published 2014 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes: Uncensored Iranian Voices by Azar Nafisi, Marjane Satrapi, Abbas Kiarostami 3.83 avg rating — 374 ratings — published 2006 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile by Azar Nafisi, Lotfali Khonji (Translator), Valerie Miles (Editor) 3.69 avg rating — 26 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inge Morath: Iran by Azar Nafisi, Monika Faber, John P. Jacob (Editor) 4.40 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gatsby 3.82 avg rating — 11 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	BiBi e la voce verde by Azar Nafisi, Sophie Benini Pietromarchi (Illustrator), L. Signorini (Translator) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mysterious Connections that Link Us Together: A "This I Believe" Essay really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Azar Nafisi…

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The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

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Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

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