Shiva Rahbaran studied literature and political science at the University of Düsseldorf (Germany) and obtained her DPhil in English literature on the works of Nicholas Mosley from the University of Oxford (UK). She is the author of several articles and books on Iranian cinema as well as Persian and English literature. Her books include The Paradox of Freedom: A study of the life and writings of Nicholas Mosley and, most recently, Iranian Cinema Uncensored. For her short story “Massoumeh,” she won the 2016 Wasafiri New Writing Prize. She is currently working on a novel on an Iranian family during the time of the revolution.
Iran’s most prominent poet, a two-time Nobel nominee, on the greatest epic in history, the nightmare of censorship, and why her country will eventually achieve democracy.