Azar Nafisi

Born in Iran, Azar Nafisi taught English Literature at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University, and Allameh Tabatabai for nearly 20 years. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Nafisi became frustrated with the stringent rules imposed upon women by the government and eventually left Iran in 1997. She came to the United States where she wrote Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, an account of her time living and teaching in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The book was on the New York Times Best Sellers list for 117 weeks and Nafisi won several literary awards, including the 2004 Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from Book Sense. Updated July 2015