Shahrnush Parsipur, the Iranian writer who spent a career making the patriarchy sweat - and a fair amount of time in prison for it - has died at 80. A pioneer of feminist fiction in Iran, Parsipur excoriated the country's patriarchal culture in novels including "Women Without Men" and "Touba and the Meaning of Night." She was imprisoned four times, under both the Shah and the Islamic Republic, proving that oppressive regimes really don't have a sense of humor - or tolerance for women with opinions.
In 2026, her novel "Women Without Men" was finally published in the UK for the first time, translated from Persian by Faridoun Farrokh, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. "Shahrnush's legacy in literary history can't really be compared to anyone else's," said her UK publisher Denise Rose Hansen. "Being in touch with her just a few days ago, she was as she always was: generous, warm, forthright, quick, brilliant."
Born 17 February 1946 in Tehran, Parsipur studied sociology at the University of Tehran. Her first novel, "The Dog and the Long Winter," was published in 1974, making her Iran's second female novelist, after Simin Daneshvar. Her debut is about a young Iranian woman introduced to activism via her brother and his friends - basically, the start of a lifelong habit of making trouble.
Parsipur was first imprisoned after resigning from her job as a producer on Iranian state TV over the execution of two poets by Savak, the secret police. She was later imprisoned during the '80s for four years and seven months without being formally charged. She wrote about her experience in "Prison Memoir," which will be published in English for the first time in 2027.
In 1989, she published "Touba and the Meaning of Night," a historical novel following one woman's life against the backdrop of 20th-century Iran. The plot involves a 14-year-old marrying a 52-year-old, which ends badly - shocking no one. The novel will be published in English translation in the UK by Penguin in 2028.
Also in 1989, Parsipur published "Women Without Men," a title nodding to Hemingway's "Men Without Women" - because who doesn't want to one-up Hemingway? Set during the 1953 coup, it links five women seeking freedom from patriarchal oppression in a garden. A film adaptation directed by Shirin Neshat was released in 2009. The novel became an underground success in Iran, until the wife of an Islamic Republic official read it and - surprise - Parsipur was imprisoned again, this time over her depiction of women's sexuality. From 1994, she lived in political exile in the US.
"The women of Iran have changed so much, so many without hijab," she told the Guardian in March. "They don't care what the Islamic Republic thinks." Iran's women, she added, "will cause the fall of the Islamic Republic." She had wanted to become a writer since childhood, reading the Persian translation of "Great Expectations" 36 times in a row. Alongside Dickens, she cited Dostoevsky and Kafka as influences. Her other books include "The Blue Reason," "Shiva," "Trial Offer," and "Tea Ceremony in the Presence of the Wolf."