Azar Nafisi, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Cultural Conversations; Foreign Policy Institute Visiting Fellow

Expertise

Geographic Areas
Middle East | Iran

Issues
culture, religion and politics | developing nations | human rights | Islamic religion, culture and law | women's rights

Background and Education
Served on the faculty at Tehran University and later Allemeh Tabatabai University; as visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, taught on the interactions between Western and Iranian culture; has earned international recognition for advocating on behalf of Iran's intellectuals, youth and especially women; Ph.D., English literature, University of Oklahoma

Foreign Languages
Persian

Publications
Things I've Been Silent About (2008); La Voce Verde (2006); Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003); Anti-Terra: A Study of Vladimir Nabokov's Novels (1994); numerous chapters and articles on issues related to promotion of democracy and human rights in Muslim societies, on women's rights and on literature and culture; Reading Lolita has been on best-seller lists worldwide, has been translated into more than 30 languages and has won many literary awards, including the 2004 Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from Booksense and the Frederic W. Ness Book Award.