Podcasts about reading lolita

Die wahren Begebenheiten, die Eran Riklis in seinem jüngsten Werk basierend auf Azar Nafisis gleichnamigem Roman inszeniert, liegen mehr als vierzig Jahre in der Vergangenheit. Doch die politische Lage im Iran der Gegenwart machen die Geschichte einer Professorin, die mit ihren Studentinnen entgegen des staatlichen Verbots vom Regime verbotene Literatur diskutiert, so aktuell wie damals. Mit Lidanoir unterhielt sich der israelische Regisseur über die herausfordernde Genesis von Reading Lolita in Tehran und die schwierige Positionierung zu staatlicher Zensur von Büchern.

As I type this, four states remain uncalled, including two battlegrounds. It could take days or longer to determine the final popular vote tally. Control of the U.S. House of Representatives is still to be determined. But that's nothing like the uncertainty we were expecting to reign over the day and days after Election Day. Put another way: Donald Trump is projected to have won the presidency. And pretty decisively. In some ways, we've been here before. In other ways, though, things seem pretty significantly different this time around. Just as an example, Connecticut seems to have swung toward Trump by 10 points or more as compared to 2020. This hour, we start to pick up the pieces after a long and consistently, persistently surprising election that has come to its inevitable end. GUESTS: Bill Curry: Playing the part of Bill Curry David Folkenflik: NPR's media correspondent Azar Nafisi: The author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ROMA (ITALPRESS) - In questa edizione:Festa Cinema, il premio del pubblico Fs a "Reading Lolita in Tehran""Fino alla fine", il ritorno di Gabriele Muccino"Berlinguer. La grande ambizione", Andrea Segre dirige Elio Germano"L'amore secondo Kafka", l'omaggio nel centenario del grande scrittoremgg/mrv

ROMA (ITALPRESS) - "Reading Lolita in Tehran", firmato dal regista Eran Riklis e tratto dal best seller del 2003 di Azar Nafisi, è il film vincitore del "Premio del Pubblico FS", assegnato oggi alla Festa del Cinema di Roma. La pellicola è stata la più votata dagli spettatori tra 18 film in gara al Concorso "Progressive Cinema". A consegnare il riconoscimento, nel corso della cerimonia di premiazione ufficiale all'Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, sono stati il sindaco di Roma Roberto Gualtieri e il Chief Corporate Affairs e Communication Officer del Gruppo FS, Giuseppe Inchingolo. "È per noi del Gruppo FS un grande piacere essere presenti su questo palco e consegnare il Premio del Pubblico FS al miglior film del Concorso Progressive Cinema votato dagli spettatori. - ha affermato Giuseppe Inchingolo - Anche quest'anno abbiamo rinnovato il sostegno alla Festa del Cinema, confermando il nostro impegno nei riguardi di tutte quelle iniziative che contribuiscono a portare un valore aggiunto al Paese".xl5/col3/gsl

ROMA (ITALPRESS) - "Reading Lolita in Tehran", firmato dal regista Eran Riklis e tratto dal best seller del 2003 di Azar Nafisi, è il film vincitore del "Premio del Pubblico FS", assegnato oggi alla Festa del Cinema di Roma. La pellicola è stata la più votata dagli spettatori tra 18 film in gara al Concorso "Progressive Cinema". A consegnare il riconoscimento, nel corso della cerimonia di premiazione ufficiale all'Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, sono stati il sindaco di Roma Roberto Gualtieri e il Chief Corporate Affairs e Communication Officer del Gruppo FS, Giuseppe Inchingolo. "È per noi del Gruppo FS un grande piacere essere presenti su questo palco e consegnare il Premio del Pubblico FS al miglior film del Concorso Progressive Cinema votato dagli spettatori. - ha affermato Giuseppe Inchingolo - Anche quest'anno abbiamo rinnovato il sostegno alla Festa del Cinema, confermando il nostro impegno nei riguardi di tutte quelle iniziative che contribuiscono a portare un valore aggiunto al Paese".xl5/col3/gsl

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran, shot in Rome and presented at the Rome Film Fest was a very important and life changing project for all the actresses involved. The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with actresses Goldshifteh Farahani and Mina Kavani appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

Reading Lolita in Teheran by Eran Riklis, premiering at Rome Film Fest brings on the big screen the freedom and power of the book by Azar Nafisi The post “Reading Lolita in Teheran”, interview with director Eran Riklis and Book author Azar Nafisi appeared first on Fred Film Radio.

How do you build a historical character? How do you approach an accent? What do you wear in a period piece audition? These are questions actors face when building a real life character from history. Cast as Queen Berenice in Peacock's original series "Those About to Die," actor Lara Wolf shares her thoughts on all of these topics and more. Her credits include "Quantico," "Roxana," "The Performance," "Blindspot," "Blue Bloods," and the upcoming autobiographical film "Reading Lolita in Tehran." In today's episode we discuss short turnaround auditions, self-confidence as an actor, and the value in not just keeping an audition log, but a working log. These are the unforgettable stories that landed Lara Wolf right here. Credits:  Those About to Die Reading Lolita in Tehran Quantico Roxana The Performance Hidden Exposure You Are Wanted Kovar Blindspot Blue Bloods THAT ONE AUDITION'S LINKS: For exclusive content surrounding this and all podcast episodes, sign up for our amazing newsletter at AlyshiaOchse.com. And don't forget to snap and post a photo while listening to the show and tag me: @alyshiaochse & @thatoneaudition MAGIC MIND: Get 48% off with promo code ONEAUDITION20 SLAYTEMBER: Starting September 15, 2024! THE BRIDGE FOR ACTORS: Become a WORKING ACTOR THE PRACTICE TRACK: Membership to Practice Weekly PATREON: @thatoneaudition CONSULTING: Get 1-on-1 advice for your acting career from Alyshia Ochse COACHING: Get personalized coaching from Alyshia on your next audition or role INSTAGRAM: @alyshiaochse INSTAGRAM: @thatoneaudition WEBSITE: AlyshiaOchse.com ITUNES: Subscribe to That One Audition on iTunes SPOTIFY: Subscribe to That One Audition on Spotify STITCHER: Subscribe to That One Audition on Stitcher EPISODE CREDITS: WRITER: Erin McCluskey WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings ASSISTANT: Elle Powell SOCIAL OUTREACH: Alara Ceri

Lara Wolf talks her new show "Those About to Die", her journey to New York, and the time she burned herself before an audition! About Lara: Lara Wolf is a multilingual actress with an international edge: she was born in Tehran, raised in Zurich, and now lives as a naturalized New Yorker in Brooklyn. She studied Psychology at the Univerisity of Zurich, and simultaneously worked as a television host and fitness model for StarTV, before she relocated to the United States to train at the Lee Strasburg Theatre and Film Institute.  She has also played a variety of characters, such as a detective (Bluebloods, Blindspot), as a mistress (You are Wanted, Amazon), and as Princess Nora in Quantico, where she guest-starred alongside Priyanka Chopra. Furthermore, Lara starred as the lead in the filmRoxana (by Elahe Massoumi) portraying an Iranian journalist, a Bahaii wife (Family Of Too Many), and the right-hand assistant of a mobster played by Gerard Depardieu (BigHouse). She was part of the reading of Marylin Felt's Asher's Command (directed by Navid Negahban, and performed at the Other Israel Film Festival), where she played Lila, the wife of an Israeli commander. She is also a founding member of the Primitive Grace Theatre Company in NYC where she's collaborated as a writer and actress with her mentors Paul Calderon and David Zayas (Hollywood Entrée). In the film The Performance,directed by Shira Piven, she acted opposite Jeremy Piven and Robert Carlyle and sang live! Recently, she starred in a leading role opposite Golshifteh Farahani in the film Reading Lolita in Tehran, directed by one of Israel's most notable filmmakers: Eran Riklis. Now, you can see her as ‘Queen Berenice' in the highly anticipated Peacock series Those About To Die opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins.  Lara grew up playing tennis, and now enjoys playing in her free time to stay active – and when she's not on the court, you can probably find her on a reformer in a Pilates studio! She is passionate about overall wellness, both mental and physical, and strives in her day-to-day life to support others in their pursuit of finding it. Follow the show on social media!          Instagram: https://instagram.com/thanksforcominginpodcast/          Twitter: https://twitter.com/tfci_podcast          Facebook: http://facebook.com/thanksforcominginpodcast/           Patreon: patreon.com/thanksforcomingin YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXj8Rb1bEmhufSBFSCyp4JQ Theme Music by Andrew Skrabutenas Producers: Jillian Clare & Susan Bernhardt Channel: Realm For more information, go to thanksforcominginpodcast.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I saw someone on TikTok ask (rather vulgarly) that we just have, for once, a week that is … precedented. And I mean, yes. Could we? Well, not this week. The shooting. The convention. The running mate. The president with COVID. The ominous election. And then Bob Newhart died, too. So we decided we need — and that you might need, too — an hour to figure out where to find hope even in the face of all this. GUESTS: Noah Baerman: A pianist, composer, and educator; his new album, from the Noah Baerman Trio, is Live at the Side Door Susan Clinard: The owner of Clinard Sculpture Studio in Hamden, Connecticut Azar Nafisi: The author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times Benjamin Perry: Minister of outreach and media strategy at Middle Church and the author of Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter Gene Seymour: A “writer, professional spectator, pop-culture maven, and jazz geek The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Eugene Amatruda contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summer Lopez, chief program officer of Free Expression Programs at PEN America and Azar Nafisi, author of many books including Reading Lolita in Tehran and most recently Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times (Dey Street Books, 2022), talk about the jailed Iranian women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The jailed Iranian women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, is this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. On Today's Show:Summer Lopez, chief program officer of Free Expression Programs at PEN America and Azar Nafisi, author of many books including Reading Lolita in Tehran and most recently Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times (Dey Street Books, 2022), discuss Mohammadi's work, and the importance, and difficulties of speaking truth to power.

The jailed Iranian women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, is this year's recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. On Today's Show:Summer Lopez, chief program officer of Free Expression Programs at PEN America and Azar Nafisi, author of many books including Reading Lolita in Tehran and most recently Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times (Dey Street Books, 2022), discuss Mohammadi's work, and the importance, and difficulties of speaking truth to power.

Our guest today symbolizes the power of literature which she captures in her internationally acclaimed memoir, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. Through her powerful storytelling, she invites readers to embark on a journey to discover Iran beyond clichés. All her work explores themes of censorship, identity, struggle for individuality, shedding light on the experiences of women in Iran and their quest for freedom. In 1981, Nafisi was expelled from teaching at the University of Tehran for refusing to wear the Islamic veil and eventually left Iran for the US in 1997. She's been speaking to FRANCE 24's Fatimata Wane at the Taormina book festival in Italy, where she was given an award.

According to Islam, Paradise is a luxury brothel. As many as six Suras (chapters) of the Quran are devoted to this notion, with sensuous descriptions of steamy pleasures for those who gain entrance. And these descriptions are further enhanced by numerous hadiths. Sadly for all of us, only terrorists who die in jihad qualify for immediate access, which explains why they are so eager to blow themselves (and others) up. And Muslim women are not invited to Paradise because they would only spoil the party for the men. Credits and references: Programme written, produced and hosted by Gabriel Porras at gabrielvoice.com and murmullosradiantes.com Cover: "The Believer's Dream", by Achille Zo (1870). Musée Bonnat, Bayonne Music: "Qanun al-Tarab" and "El Arte de Escuchar" by Gnawledge, from their great album Granada Doaba on freemusicarchive.org. Buy it on Bandcamp! "Undeniable", by Ketsa, on freemusicarchive.org. "Devotion", from The Pilgrimage Series, Part 1 on artlist.io. "Reflections Eastern", from Master 1, on freemusicarchive.org. Texts quoted from the Qur'an: "those who deserve paradise occupy themselves with delightful things": 36:55. Description of paradise and the Huris: 55:66-76 "The pious will be in a place of safety": 44:51-57 Description of paradise and the Huris: 56: 15-37 Eternal mancebos "like hidden pearls": 52:24 For the original sources of the Qur'an: W. Tisdall, The Original Sources of the Quran Hadiths of al-Bukhari and others: Paradise is in the shadow of the sword: Sahih al-Bukhari 4:52:73 Muhammad is not guaranteed salvation: Sahih al-Bukhari 5:58:266 Women with "desirable frontal passages" and men with penises that do not become flaccid: Sunah Ibn Majah, 5:37:4337 Believers will receive the sexual potency of a hundred men: Jami at-Tirmidhi 4:12:2536 What will the Day of Judgment be like? Sahih al-Bukhari 8, Book 76, hadith 577; Bayhaqi Every pacifist Muslim is a hypocrite: Sahih Muslim; Sunah Abu Dawud 2502. Book 15, hadith 26 Official Islamic biography of Muhammad: The Life of Muhammad, a translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by A. Guillaume. Karachi, Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press, 23rd impression 2010. History of the invasion of Kaybar in which Muhammad has a Jewish leader tortured and burned: Sirat p. 510-19; History of al-Tabari VIII, p. 122, 123. Tafsir of Ibn Kathir: To occupy oneself with "delightful things" means "deflowering virgins": Ibn Kathir IX, 383 Tafsir al-Khalalalayn, Surah Jaseen verse 55 https://i.redd.it/ga0ox7sd2a851.jpg https://www.reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/12frh1x/deflowering_virgins_quran/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CritiqueIslam/comments/hjec12/proof_that_men_are_rewarded_virgins_that_they/ The story about Ayatollah Khomeini's thesis on copulation with chickens I read in the wonderful and very moving book Reading Lolita in Teheran, by Azar Nafisi. Read it! A very interesting article on the religion of the Vikings: https://scandinaviafacts.com/did-vikings-have-to-die-with-sword-in-hand-to-reach-valhalla/

So much of our modern life is built upon simplifying the complex. We reduce social interactions to likes and follows on social media and dilute the “news” in our favorite echo chambers. But Azar Nafisi warns that life is not simple, and the complexity found in great literature is ultimately liberating of the mind and essential to the health of our democracy. Nafisi is a best-selling author and professor. She was a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., from 1997 and 2017. She taught as professor of aesthetics, culture and literature there, as well as acting as Director of The Dialogue Project & Cultural Conversations. She released her nationally best-selling book “Reading Lolita in Tehran” in 2003, which went on the spend over 117 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The book has been translated in 32 languages and won many awards such as the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, the Frederic W. Ness Book Award, Non-fiction Book of the Year Award by Booksense, the Latifeh Yarsheter Book Award, an achievement award from the American Immigration Law foundation and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle. It has also been a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir. Nafisi won a Persian Golden Lioness Award for literature in 2005, presented by the World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media. The Times named Reading Lolita in Tehran one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade,” in 2009. She has worked with both policy makers and human rights organizations to improve human rights for the women and girls of Iran. She was awarded the Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation International Thought and Humanities Award in 2011 and was named a Georgetown University/Walsh School of Foreign Service Centennial Fellow in 2018. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from Susquehanna University (2019), Pomona College (2015), Mt. Holyoke College (2012), Seton Hill University (2010), Goucher College (2009), Bard College (2007), Rochester University (2005) and Nazareth College.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Azar Nafisi, The New York Times bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, ranging from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood. How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics?

How can reading a novel become an act of political rebellion? This is one of the important questions we take up with Azar Nafisi, author of the memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran. Azar's latest book is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. In it, she focuses on the parallels and connections between the totalitarian mindset in Iran and totalitarian tendencies in the United States. Azar notes that tyrants and writers in both countries seek to recreate reality, tyrants by telling us that the truth is what they say it is, and writers by excavating the actual truth. “In Iran, like all totalitarian states,” Azar says, “the regime pays too much attention to poets and writers, harassing, jailing, and even killing them. The problem in America is that too little attention is paid to them.” The solution? “Reading literature and philosophy will teach you to have an independent mindset,” Azar explains. “It teaches you to be generous towards others, to not live on hate. … One of the things that is fascinating to me about fiction is that by structure, it is democratic. … A novel is comprised of different characters from different backgrounds–gender, race, ethnicity, religion. … The plot moves forward through creating tensions within and between these characters. Even the villain, even the bad guy has a voice of his own. So fiction becomes dangerous. These two aspects of it are anti-totalitarian: its democratic structure and its search for truth.” Azar Nafisi is the author of the multi-award-winning New York Times bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, as well as Things I've Been Silent About and The Republic of Imagination. Formerly a fellow at Johns Hopkins University's Foreign Policy Institute, she's taught at Oxford and several universities in Tehran, and she's currently Centennial Fellow at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Azar's writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal. Find us on Twitter (@bookdreamspod) and Instagram (@bookdreamspodcast), or email us at contact@bookdreamspodcast.com. We encourage you to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter for information about our episodes, guests, and more. Book Dreams is a part of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Book Dreams, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows about literature, writing, and storytelling like Storybound and The History of Literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Azar Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, which spent 117 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Her newest book, Read Dangerously, argues that reading literature, reading challenging, dangerous literature is foundational and fundamental to continued democracy. Imagination, itself, she says, is a threat to autocracy and totalitarianism. Imagination is inherently, by definition, “free and wayward.” “It should be clear by now that when I talk about books,” Nafisi writes, “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance.” Azar Nafisi joins us for the hour. GUEST: Azar Nafisi: The author of six books; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired April 7, 2022.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Rachael Tillman and I discuss Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran, a long overdue read for both of us.

In this episode from the Institute's Vault, Samantha Power describes how Hannah Arendt influenced her thinking about politics and human rights. Power spoke during a two day symposium-- “Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher's impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt's birth. Samantha Power was Barack Obama's human rights adviser, and then served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. She is the author of several books, including A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, which won the 2003 Pulitzer prize. She is a professor of practice at Harvard's Law School and Kennedy School. In the second half of the episode, Azar Nafisi responds to Power. Nafisi is best known for her 2003 book, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode from the Institute's Vault, Samantha Power describes how Hannah Arendt influenced her thinking about politics and human rights. Power spoke during a two day symposium-- “Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher's impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt's birth. Samantha Power was Barack Obama's human rights adviser, and then served as the US Ambassador to the United Nations. She is the author of several books, including A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, which won the 2003 Pulitzer prize. She is a professor of practice at Harvard's Law School and Kennedy School. In the second half of the episode, Azar Nafisi responds to Power. Nafisi is best known for her 2003 book, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Azar Nafisi, who is the critically acclaimed author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a New York Times bestseller that is published in thirty-two languages. Nafisi reflects on the effect of education, ideology, and the corporate mentality on the preservation of democracy, focusing particularly on political divides in the US. Mariam and Azar dive into the philosophical underpinnings of freedom, democracy preservation in the US, and the fight for democracy in Iran. Nafisi is also known for her other works including, Things I've Been Silent About, Republic of Imagination, That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile, and most recently The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. She has held various teaching posts across the world including at Johns Hopkins University, Oxford University, and Free Islamic University and Allameh Tabatabai.

In this episode from the Institute's Vault, we have an excerpt from a two day symposium--“Hannah Arendt Right Now”--which explored the philosopher's impact on the 21st Century. The 2006 event was held on the hundredth anniversary of Arendt's birth. In this session, Azar Nafisi and Ladan Boroumand talk about how Arendt's work on totalitarianism helped them understand the Islamic Revolution in Iran, where both of them were born. Azar Nafisi - is best known for her 2003 book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Ladan Boroumand is an historian and human rights advocate. She is the author of several articles on the French Revolution, Iran's Islamic revolution, and the nature of Islamist terrorism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This hour, we investigate what it means to be a good citizen today. What are our responsibilities? What do we owe each other? GUESTS: Tamar Gendler: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology and Cognitive Science, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Yale University. John Shattuck: Co-author of the new book, Holding Together: The Hijacking of Rights in America and How to Reclaim Them for Everyone. He is a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a senior fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. He was formerly U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Azar Nafisi: Author of six books, including Reading Lolita in Tehran. Her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Azar Nafisi offers you - a reader - a challenge. It is the title of her latest book - “Read Dangerously”. Azar comes with a unique perspective. She was teaching in Iran when the clerics took over, banned books, and eliminated many of the freedoms that Americans often take for granted. She caused something of a sensation when she wrote “Reading Lolita in Tehran” - contending that reading fiction can be a liberating and even subversive act. Now she teaches in the United States and worries that Americans aren't reading enough - specifically aren't reading works that take them outside their comfort zone. What freedoms could we lost if we don't "Read Dangerously"? Her argument is an important one and very much worth a listen. 

This week's episode inspires and challenges and encourages all of us to embrace the magic of subversive reading. This conversation with Azar Nafisi, the best-selling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, about her new book, Read Dangerously, is a reminder of what's at stake for us right now in the US, why we need to engage and not check out, or worse, employ the same tactics as extremists in the fight for democracy. Tune in for an episode that's political and urgent and necessary—and if you're not reading dangerously, make the next book on your reading list a subversive one.

Bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran Azar Nafisi argues that in order to resist the populist and polarising impulses of contemporary politics we must read dangerously; works by authors like Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Elias Khoury and Ta-Nehisi Coates that challenge comforting clichés and attempt to change the world.

So much of our modern life is built upon simplifying the complex.  We reduce social interactions to likes and follows on social media and dilute the “news” in our favorite echo chambers.  But Azar Nafisi warns that life is not simple and the complexity found in great literature is ultimately liberating of the mind and essential to the health of our democracy. Dr. Azar Nafisi is best known as the author of the national bestseller “Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books,” a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students.  Born and raised in Iran, she came to the United States to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma during the 1970s. Afterward, Nafisi returned to Iran and taught English at the University of Tehran. In 1981, she was expelled for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil and did not resume teaching until 1987. She taught at the Free Islamic University and Allameh Tabatabai, and went on to a fellowship at Oxford University, teaching and conducting a series of lectures on culture and the important role of Western literature and culture in Iran after the Revolution in 1979.  Nafisi returned to the United States in 1997—earning national respect and international recognition for advocating on behalf of Iran's intellectuals, youth, and especially young women.  Nafisi was a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, DC, where she taught aesthetics, culture, and literature, and taught courses on the relation between culture and politics.  She also served as Director of The Dialogue Project & Cultural Conversations there.  She has lectured and written extensively in English and Persian on the political implications of literature and culture, as well as the human rights of the Iranian women and girls and the important role they play in the process of change for pluralism and open society in Iran.  She has been consulted on issues related to Iran and human rights both by the policymakers and various human rights organizations across the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, our guest is author and academic Azar Nafisi. Her books include Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About. Nafisi was born in Iran, and first came to the United States to study in the 1970s. After earning her Ph.D., she returned to her home country to teach at the University of Tehran, where in 1981, she was expelled for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil. Nafisi went back to teaching six years later, with a series of lectures that examined the role of Western literature and culture in Iran after the 1979 revolution. She returned to the United States in 1997 to advocate on behalf of Iran's intellectuals, youth, and especially young women. Her new book Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times examines some of the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, and more. On March 31, 2022, Azar Nafisi talked to Steven Winn at the studios of KQED in San Francisco.

Azar Nafisi is the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, which spent 117 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Her new book, Read Dangerously, argues that reading literature, reading challenging, dangerousliterature is foundational and fundamental to continued democracy. Imagination, itself, she says, is a threat to autocracy and totalitarianism. Imagination is inherently, by definition, “free and wayward.” “It should be clear by now that when I talk about books,” Nafisi writes, “I am not talking about literature of resistance but literature as resistance.” Azar Nafisi joins us for the hour. GUEST: Azar Nafisi: The author of six books; her newest is Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bestseller author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" discusses her new book "Read Dangerously-The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times".

Azar Nafisi, The New York Times bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran" returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, ranging from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood. How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics?

After captivating readers with her debut memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi returns with her fifth book, Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. Nafisi implores the reader to look to the power of literature as America wrestles with censorship in the aftermath of the Trump presidency. In our conversation with Azar Nafisi, she makes her case for us to be diligent in our pursuit of defending our freedom to read books that challenge us, encourage our growth, and call us to play in the limitless waters of imagination. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vulgargeniuses/support

We are talking about the art of reading dangerously with guest Iranian American author Azar Nafisi, who was written a book called Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. In 2003, Azar's memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran became a worldwide bestseller as she shared her experiences of living, working and reading in Iran under its repressive regime. Read Dangerously is composed of letters to Azar's father. Azar addresses immigration, Donald Trump, The Handmaid's Tale, George Floyd and James Baldwin, and Pandemic existence, while also contemplating her former life in Iran.

Democracy is integral to America's story, but recent book banning efforts from across the country may be a red flag. Author and English literature professor Azar Nafisi joins the podcast to talk about the power of fiction to challenge tyranny and preserve democracy. As a witness to the Iranian Revolution firsthand, Azar has explored the subversive power of literature in her bestselling book Reading Lolita in Tehran. On the pod, Azar talks about her new book Read Dangerously, which draws from her experiences as a woman and voracious reader living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, her life as an immigrant in the United States, and her role as literature professor.

The New York Times bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a guide to the power of literature in turbulent times, arming readers with a resistance reading list, ranging from James Baldwin to Zora Neale Hurston to Margaret Atwood.What is the role of literature in an era when one political party wages continual war on writers and the press? What is the connection between political strife in our daily lives, and the way we meet our enemies on the page in fiction? How can literature, through its free exchange, affect politics?In this galvanizing guide to literature as resistance, Nafisi seeks to answer these questions. Drawing on her experiences as a woman and voracious reader living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, her life as an immigrant in the United States, and her role as literature professor in both countries, she crafts an argument for why, in a genuine democracy, we must engage with the enemy, and how literature can be a vehicle for doing so.Structured as a series of letters to her father, who taught her as a child about how literature can rescue us in times of trauma, Nafisi explores the most probing questions of our time through the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, and more.

In light of the recent wave of book bannings taking place across The United of States, The Stacks is spending all week talking with people who are impacted by the bannings, ranging from students to educators, authors, and more, to help us think about what is at stake and what we can do.We start today's episode with Mississippi high school student Timya Wright. Timya shares how she feels about adults telling young people what books they can have access to and the kinds of books she wishes were taught in school. Then we're joined by Azar Nafisi, the bestselling author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and the forthcoming Read Dangerously:The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times. We talk about Azar's about the need to nurture freedom. We also hear about authors Rebecca Carroll, R. Eric Thomas, and R. O. Kwon's favorite banned books.You can find links to everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/02/10/banned-books-day-4Connect with Azar: Twitter | Instagram | WebsiteConnect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | SubscribeSUPPORT THE STACKSJoin The Stacks Pack on PatreonPurchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode I will talk about Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.  I'll be drinking some Sprecher Black Bavarian, a craft beer staple in the Milwaukee area.Find my sponsors:1uptilsunup on @1uptilsunup on; Ticktock, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTubeAvenue Coffee is on Facebook and at: avenue-coffee.comFind me on Twitter, Instagram and email.  @dontreaddrunkdontreaddrunk.buzzsprout.comdontreaddrunk@gmail.comThanks for listening!

Brace yourself...this one is pretty book-ish.  Books about books...  Metabooks?  Bibliomemoirs?  Reading about reading?  In Talk Bookish to Me Casey tells us about some books about some other books. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi The Victorian and the Romantic by Nell Stevens My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead Banned Book Club by Hyun Sook Kim (graphic novel) Book Love by Debbie Tung (comic/graphic novel) A Girl Walks Into A Book by Miranda Pennington Bookworm: a memoir of childhood reading by Lucy Mangan Barking with the Big Dogs by Natalie Babbitt Learn all about the Askew Creek Book Shop with Cowichan librarian, Kendra, as she talks to co-op members Diane Gallagher and Suzanne Anderson!  Diane Gallagher can be found on her website, including info on her new book The Bastard of Saint Geneva. Suzanne Anderson is a writer, publisher, book coach and copy editor and can be found on her website called “The Self Publishing Expert”.  The co-operative book shop was started up in June of 2020 (when everyone thought COVID might be over) and has just closed as of May 30, 2021.  You can find the co-operative on Facebook under their new name of An Island of Books. 

How should we read books? Why should we read them at all? To help us answer these questions, Claire and I turn to Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran, and talk about the freedom to read, reading for pleasure, escapism, why we get joy from reading about horrible things, the relationship between reading and moral instruction, the importance of talking and writing about what you read, and much more. 

“ I came across the work of Dr. Azar Nafisi at exactly the same time I was undergoing a spiritual transformation regarding the value of the arts and letters. This was the time of the years 2001 and a few years after. At that time I gave no thought at all to the internet (though perhaps I should have!) and podcasts were not yet even an idea (as far as I know) on anybody's mind. But I was giving a lot of thought to the arts in its many forms and books as specific medium were a big part of that. You could say that of all of the episodes thus far this one is the most bookish one. Dr. Azar Nafisi's knowledge and wisdom on literature is unsurpassed. You might say that some of the themes I am pursuing now in this very podcast were present as something like an acorn in those years. I was already primed to enjoy her Reading Lolita In Tehran by the very nature of its subject matter and what I was undergoing personally: in a phrase the value of art and the defense of such value against all those who are insensitive (or worse) to its value. The very style and meaning of her book was what I needed to read the most then and it is a book I have returned to many times since. One of her strengths is her ability to weave politics and aesthetics in the truest way, and moreover, in a way that really communicates with a wide audience. Her decision to teach Nabokov and F Scott Fitzgerald in the Iran of the mid 1990s was, to my mind, one of the most valuable political acts anybody could have done at that time. (Similar in certain respects to Susan Sontag's producing Waiting For Godot in Sarajevo in 1993). As she makes clear in this episode she regards the medium of the novel itself as "democratic." Yet she is wise enough to know that not everything can or should be always so political. In Reading Lolita there is a most arresting passage in this regard: "It is said that the personal is political. That is not true, of course. At the core of the fight for political rights is the desire to protect ourselves, to prevent the political from intruding on our individual lives. Personal and political are interdependent but not one and the same thing." I really enjoyed discussing Henry James and Jane Austen and many others with her. I hope you enjoy hearing her discuss these as well. I hope at a future date she can return and discuss even more, so rich is her knowledge and erudition.” Dr. Azar Nafisi's Biography : Azar Nafisi is best known as the author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, which electrified its readers with a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. Earning high acclaim and an enthusiastic readership. Read her full bio here: https://azarnafisi.com/about-azar/ Additional links to Dr. Nafisi's beautiful work here: https://azarnafisi.com/ Twitter @azarnafisi Facebook @azarnafisi --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mitch-hampton/message

Another ep! We recorded this in the beginning of March. Also, we got some new mics so the pod sounds a lot better. In this one we talk about a bunch of shit like cavemen and how it's not wrong to read Lolita. Oh! Our camera was down for this one so if you're into our youtube, there's no video this week. Catch us next time for our Red Scare special! And shoot us an email bbs

Our first episode explores Becky’s book choice, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Iranian writer Azar Nafisi. Podcast theme: Natasha Pasternak See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 2003, Azar Nafisi electrified readers worldwide with "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books," which went on to become a long-running #1 New York Times bestseller. A modest professor of English literature, Nafisi taught at the University of Tehran as the Islamic Revolution raged around her, until she was fired in 1981 for her refusal to wear the mandatory veil. Before leaving the country in 1995, Nafisi spent two years holding secret classes on forbidden Western literature in her home.  "Reading Lolita in Tehran" recounts seven young women students passionately relating Nabokov’s works, as well as novels like "Madame Bovary" and "Pride and Prejudice," to their own lives, claiming intellectual freedom through their survey of banned literature. In episode, we hear from Nafisi, who joined us at Benaroya Hall in February 2006 for Seattle Arts & Lectures’ 2005/06 Season. At the conclusion of Nafisi’s talk, Margit Rankin, then-Executive Director of Seattle Arts & Lectures, joins her in an interview about teaching, intellectual integrity, and the dire consequences of banning books.

Mark Leonard speaks with Ellie Geranmayeh and Dr Kayhan Barzegar about Mohammad Javad Zarif’s resignation, and the current political situation in Iran. Bookshelf: Becoming by Michelle Obama https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562881/becoming-by-michelle-obama/9781524763138/ Reading Lolita from Tehran by Azar Nafisi https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/290/290466/reading-lolita-in-tehran/9780241246238.html Let the swords encircle me by Scott Peterson https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Let-the-Swords-Encircle-Me/Scott-Peterson/9781416597285 Films: The Insult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insult_(film) No Man’s Land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(2001_film) About Elly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Elly A Separation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Separation Picture credit: Iranian and German foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Frank-Walter Steinmeier meeting in Tehran by Tasnim News Agency, via Wikimedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FM_Javad_Zarif_meeting_German_FM_Frank-Walter_Steinmeier_in_Tehran_139411132358185167028224.jpg, CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Azar Nafisi is the author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, a harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. The book was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Memoir and was named one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade” by The Times (London). It has spent over 117 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated in 32 languages.

Book excerpt to help you sleep. Book credit: Reading Lolita In Tehran: A Memoir in Books - Azar Nafisi http://amzn.to/2iCx8vo

How do you run a literature course for convicts, and what do a headless chicken and Pinochet have in common? Mikita Brottman discusses her new book, The Maximum Security Book Club; Idra Novey reads a short story; and we venture underground to check out what's happening to the abandoned streetcar tunnels under Washington, D.C. Mentioned in this episode: • Idra Novey’s short story, “Under the Lid” • Our original coverage of the Dupont Underground • Mikita Brottman’s essay, “Jane Austen’s Ivory Cage” Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you run a literature course for convicts, and what do a headless chicken and Pinochet have in common? Mikita Brottman discusses her new book, The Maximum Security Book Club; Idra Novey reads a short story; and we venture underground to check out what's happening to the abandoned streetcar tunnels under Washington, D.C. Mentioned in this episode: • Idra Novey’s short story, “Under the Lid” • Our original coverage of the Dupont Underground • Mikita Brottman’s essay, “Jane Austen’s Ivory Cage” Tune in every two weeks to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Schulder speaks with Azar Nafisi, Iranian-American author of the number one New York Times bestseller "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and "Republic of Imagination: America in 3 Books," in front of a live audience at this summer's Nantucket Book Festival. Nafisi insists that remaining in Iran after the Islamic Revolution and teaching the works of great western authors in ways the rulers of the Islamic Republic would consider subversive, was not an act of courage. Listen and judge for yourself.

Schulder speaks with Azar Nafisi, Iranian-American author of the number one New York Times bestseller "Reading Lolita in Tehran" and "Republic of Imagination: America in 3 Books," in front of a live audience at this summer's Nantucket Book Festival. Nafisi insists that remaining in Iran after the Islamic Revolution and teaching the works of great western authors in ways the rulers of the Islamic Republic would consider subversive, was not an act of courage. Listen and judge for yourself.

The bestselling author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” a portrayal of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and its effects on one university professor and her students, Azar Nafisi comes to NYPL to celebrate the success of her most recent book, “The Republic of Imagination.” Nafisi joins NYPL’s Paul Holdengraber for a conversation on the importance of literature, freedom, and originality in today’s global society.

Azar Nafisi is the bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Join her for a discussion of her latest book "The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books" at the Main Library.

Azar Nafisi is the bestselling author of "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Join her for a discussion of her latest book "The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books" at the Main Library.

Ten years ago, Azar Nafisi electrified readers with her million-copy bestseller, Reading Lolita in Tehran, which told the story of how, against the backdrop of morality squads and executions, she taught The Great Gatsby and other classics to her eager students in Iran. In this exhilarating followup, Nafisi has written the book her fans have been waiting for: an impassioned, beguiling, and utterly original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society. What Reading Lolita in Tehran was for Iran, The Republic of Imagination is for America. The Avid Reader show is sponsored by Wellington Square Bookshop in Chester County, PA. The show airs every Monday at 5PM EST on WCHE AM 1520. Please visit our website at www.wellingtonsquarebooks.com

This is a supplemental episode of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” While preparing for our previous podcast, I (Ajay) came across a piece that Gideon Lewis-Kraus had written critiquing an article by Columbia Professor Hamid Dabashi which, in turn, was a critique of Azar Nafisi's bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran. I was quite taken aback by Gideon's piece both because (full-disclosure) Dabashi is my adviser but, perhaps far more importantly, I agreed so vehemently with Dabashi's original critique. Being the kind of institution we are, where we want to promote transparency and open, critical dialogue, we thought the best thing to do was to record a separate, brief podcast where Gideon and I got to revisit this episode, some six years later. What ensues is, we hope, an interesting discussion about politics, aesthetics, war, imperialism, writing-as-art, writing-as-industry, and a host of other issues. We have an appropriately brief Notations section

Author of two memoirs about her life in Iran, Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi talks about her books, her life in Iran, her parents, the Iranian Revolution, and, of course, the power of literature. 

Author of two memoirs about her life in Iran, Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi talks about her books, her life in Iran, her parents, the Iranian Revolution, and, of course, the power of literature. [25:05]

Author of two memoirs about her life in Iran, Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi talks about her books, her life in Iran, her parents, the Iranian Revolution, and, of course, the power of literature. [25:05]

Author of two memoirs about her life in Iran, Reading Lolita in Tehran and Things I've Been Silent About, Azar Nafisi talks about her books, her life in Iran, her parents, the Iranian Revolution, and, of course, the power of literature. [25:05]

Things I've Been Silent About: Memories (Random House)Azar Nafisi is one of the most powerful advocates literature has. After writing Reading Lolita in Tehran, her memoir about reading forbidden books in a repressive culture, she has taken on a new source of repression—the family.  

The author of Reading Lolita in Tehran uses her life to transform the way we see the world and to "remind us of why we read in the first place."