Shahrnush Parsipur

Parsipur's layered tales, glittering in a fresh translation, continue to beckon you into a world that is simultaneously scoured by reality, and touched with fable and myth

2026 International Booker Prize Judges

Candid, enlightening and entertaining … There’s a sense of glee, where suffering goes out the other side and comes back as exuberance

John Self, The Times

Whenever she goes through an experience that might be leveraged for epiphany, catharsis or a clear moral lesson, Parsipur always goes for something more unexpected. It’s this that makes Women Without Men, for ...

Chris Power, Observer

Candid, enlightening and entertaining … There’s a sense of glee, where suffering goes out the other side and comes back as exuberance

John Self, The Times

Whenever she goes through an experience that might be leveraged for epiphany, catharsis or a clear moral lesson, Parsipur always goes for something more unexpected. It’s this that makes Women Without Men, for ...

Chris Power, Observer

Parsipur's layered tales, glittering in a fresh translation, continue to beckon you into a world that is simultaneously scoured by reality, and touched with fable and myth

2026 International Booker Prize Judges

Candid, enlightening and entertaining … There’s a sense of glee, where suffering goes out the other side and comes back as exuberance

John Self, The Times

Whenever she goes through an experience that might be leveraged for epiphany, catharsis or a clear moral lesson, Parsipur always goes for something more unexpected. It’s this that makes Women Without Men, for ...

Chris Power, Observer