‘The orchard, vibrantly green and with adobe walls, backed up against the village at one end and bordered the river at the other. It was an orchard mostly of sweet and sour cherries. The villa, a mixture of rustic and urban architecture, sat in the middle of it.’
Shahrnush Parsipur
Shahrnush Parsipur was born in Iran in 1946
She began her career as a writer of fiction and producer at Iranian National Television and Radio. She was imprisoned for nearly five years by the Islamist government without being formally charged.
Shortly after her release, she published Women Without Men and was arrested and jailed again, this time for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality. While still banned in Iran, the novel became an underground bestseller there, and has been translated into many languages around the world.
She was also the author of Touba and the Meaning of Night, among many other books, and later lived in exile in Northern California.
Women Without Men, in an English language translation by Faridoun Farrokh, was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2026.
Shahrnush Parsipur died on 3 July 2026, aged 80.
Author photo © Mandana
In Shahrnush Parsipur’s Women Without Men, we follow the lives of five women against the background of revolution and coups as they find their way to a garden, shedding their old lives like snakeskin
The International Booker Prize 2026 judges on Women Without Men
All nominated books
A powerful and essential tale of female freedom
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