50+ Iranian Book Recommendations
Once you go Persian, there's no other version.
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How can you read in a time of unrest? Especially when you’re part of the collective habitually Othered, and this time, more intensely? As we revisit this old song and dance of Islamophobia and xenophobia and hatred and ignorance as your culture is villainized and deeply misunderstood, it’s important to dive into these books that highlight the beauty, the history, the resistance of a people—my people—who have always created art in every circumstance.
Being part of any diasporic group, and finding your footing within it, is something no one person will ever perfectly manage to do, nor is there is a unilateral experience. It’s confusing; there’s a cognitive dissonance when united by a common thread, while being unable to find a mirrored experience to help make sense of, and validate, your own individual thoughts and feelings. The hunger for finding answers to What If will never be satiated. Belonging and longing, always.
So here are 50+ Iranian authors, for a total of 75+ book recommendations (I know, the title of this newsletter underestimates the total). I’ve compiled a list similar to this one before but it needed revisions (don’t worry every book I mentioned there is included here). I also wanted a new list that could be more timeless, allowing for rolling updates (so make sure to save this and revisit!). I’m also not the first Iranian to make literary lists, as notably the best ones are from Niloufar Talebi for LitHub and AAWW (both lists are linked under Additional Reading). There’s some overlap, but her lists are from 2020, so I would say mine has a balance of backlist titles and newer releases. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
If you aren’t sure where to start, I’d recommend the most well-known and popular book on this list: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (it’s also #48 on the NYT’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century). My favorites from this list are Martyr!, The Stationery Shop, and Perfectly Parvin. For history, BBC has a comprehensive timeline (2020) and PBS has a modern timeline (2010), but both were published before the current Women, Life, Freedom movement that began in 2022 (Britannica). For more about the flag, and how its current iteration (designed by the Islamic Republic) is not aligned culturally with Iranians, read these articles from Britannica and National Geographic.
To note about all of the authors included, while all of them Iranian (Iranian-American, Canadian-Iranian, Kurdish, etc.), not all of them write about Iranian characters or Persian culture1, though most of them do. And instead of listing an author several times, I picked one of their titles to categorize and then added 1-2 from their backlist (in any genre).
🎥 Not able to pick up a book right now? Watch Rick Steve’s Iran episode on YouTube.
Disclaimer: This contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org, where I will earn a commission from qualifying purchases (at no additional cost to you). All of my recommendations from this newsletter can be found in one cumulative list, here.
Literary Fiction
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar
In the Time of Our History by Susanne Pari
My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, translated from the Persian by Dick Davis
Seasons of Purgatory by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Sara Khalili (short stories)
To Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur
Contemporary Fiction
Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour
also: This Great Hemisphere
Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Homa
Harvesting Rosewater by Paria Hassouri (out 8/15)
A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia
also: The Most Famous Girl in the World and Female Fantasy (out 10/14)
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
also: Eileen and more
The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji
Then the Fish Swallowed Him by Amir Ahmadi Arian
Things Left Unsaid by Sara Jafari
Historical Fiction
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
also: Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers (anthology)
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Deljani
The House on Sun Street by Mojgan Ghazirad
The Immortals of Tehran by Ali Araghi
The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali
also: Together Tea and The Lion Women of Tehran
The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther
The September of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
also: Man of My Time
Queer Fiction
The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
also: The Glade
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, translated from the French by Tina Kover
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
I Will Greet the Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani
In Case of of Emergency by Mahsa Mohebali
Liquid by Mariam Rahmani
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
also: Calling a Wolf a Wolf (poetry)
A Nearby Country Called Love by Salar Abdoh
also: Out of Mesopotamia
Young Adult
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
also: The Breaksup Lists, Seven Special Somethings (children’s book), and more
Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (middle grade)
If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
also: Here to Stay
Just Another Epic Love Poem by Parisa Akhbari
Like A Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
also: Only This Beautiful Moment, Exquisite Things (out 9/23), and more
Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi
also: Azar on Fire, The Interpreter (children’s book), and more
Rana Joon and the One & Only Now by Shideh Etaat
The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer
This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi (series)
also: Shatter Me (series)
Nonfiction
All the Parts We Exile by Roza Nozari
Americanized by Sara Saedi
Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity by Porochista Khakpour
also: Tehrangeles (contemporary fiction) and more
Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh
Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
A History of Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian
also: Iran Between Two Revolutions (1982), The Coup: 1953 (2013), Oil Crisis in Iran (2021)
I'm Writing You from Tehran by Delphine Minoui
The Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran by Nazila Fathi
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, translated from the French by Mattias Ripa (graphic novel)
also: Women, Life, Freedom (graphic novel)
The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Homa Katouzian
Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
also: Read Dangerously and more
The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri
Poetry
The Essential Rumi with Coleman Barks
Hafiz's Little Book of Life by Hafiz, with Gary Gach and Erfan Mojib
Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season by Forugh Farrokhzad
Look by Solmaz Sharif
Other
English by Sanaz Toossi (play)
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat (cookbook)
Bottom of the Pot by Naz Deravian (cookbook)
“Class Struggle, Autonomy, and the State in Iran” by Arya Zahedi (article)
“33 Essential Works of Fiction by Iranian Writers” by Niloufar Talebi (article for LitHub; an extension of the full 100 list below)
“100 Essential Books by Iranian Writers” by Niloufar Talebi (article series for Asian American Writers’ Workshop)
Additional Reading
These authors are not Iranian but offer more to the history of the Middle East, the Persian Empire, modern Iran, etc.
Orientalism by Edward W. Said
The Persians: The Age of The Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire by Pierre Briant
Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic by Michael Axworthy
Thank you for joining me in celebrating Iranian authors and stories. Happy reading!
زن زندگی آزادی
zan zendegi azadi
-Olivia
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I’m Persian, and though most people from Iran identify culturally as Persian too, not everyone does. For more on the different ethnic groups in Iran, watch this TikTok.