Shahrnush Parsipur: The women of Iran will cause the fall of the Islamic Republic'

"Set in Tehran during the 1953 coup, Women Without Men blends magical realism and old-school Iranian allegory to condemn the policing of women's bodies through the stories of five women: Munis, who escapes her brother's control by jumping from a rooftop and continues narrating after death; pious Faezeh, whose rape shatters her faith; Zarrin, a sex worker who begins seeing her clients as faceless and flees; Mahdokht, who fears sex so intensely she transforms into a tree; and Farrokhlaqa, who leaves her middle-class husband and buys a garden outside the city."

"In the 1980s, her stories were the talk of Iran's literary circles and she was imprisoned for nearly five years, without ever being formally charged. Three years after her release, in 1989, she published the novel, Touba and the Meaning of Night, and Women Without Men. These books became an underground success, passed around by Iranian women, and soon Women Without Men fell into the hands of the wife of an Islamic Republic official."

"The women converge at Farrokhlaqa's garden, creating a temporary refuge from marriage, male control and sexual shame. Though it is still banned in Iran, Women Without Men has been translated into many languages, and made into a film in 2009."

Shahrnush Parsipur, an 80-year-old celebrated Iranian writer and feminist, has had her novella Women Without Men longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize in the UK. Set during Iran's 1953 coup, the work blends magical realism and Iranian allegory to explore women's experiences under state control. The novel follows five women—Munis, Faezeh, Zarrin, Mahdokht, and Farrokhlaqa—each escaping different forms of male domination and sexual shame. They converge at a garden outside Tehran, creating temporary sanctuary from marriage and patriarchal oppression. Though banned in Iran, the novella has been translated into multiple languages and adapted into a 2009 film. Parsipur was imprisoned twice for her writing, including nearly five years without formal charges in the 1980s, and has lived in exile in California since the mid-1980s.

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