The death of the Iranian writer who defied censorship with the novel Women Without Men

Prominent Iranian writer and novelist Shahranush Parsipur has died at the age of 80, after a busy literary career that made her one of the most prominent feminist voices in post-Islamic Revolution Iran. She became internationally famous for her novel “Women Without Men,” which challenged the social and sexual restrictions imposed on women in Iran.

Parsipur had spent nearly five years in the prisons of the Islamic Republic before publishing the novel in 1989. The authorities were quick to ban it, but copies of it continued to circulate secretly among readers inside Iran, before it later spread throughout the world, bypassing censorship and bans.

“Women Without Men” is considered one of the most important works of magical realism in Persian literature, as it tells the story of five women who escape from the dominance of men and social restrictions to a park outside Tehran, on a symbolic journey that rethinks their identities, their bodies, and their right to self-determination. The novel dealt with sensitive issues, most notably virginity, sex, and women’s freedom, which made it one of the most controversial literary works in Iran.

In March 2026, a new English translation of the novel was published by Penguin, translated by Fereydoun Farkh. It was included in the long list for the International Booker Prize for Fiction 2026, and it was also considered a reference for understanding the intellectual backgrounds of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that Iran witnessed during the current decade.

In an interview conducted with The Guardian newspaper months before her death, Parsipur stressed that her novel was not an attack on Islam, but rather on ignorance and the culture of shame associated with women’s bodies, noting that simply talking about the concept of virginity was enough for the novel to be considered “anti-Islamic” by some officials at the time.

She said that she felt very happy when a reader told her that the novel convinced her that losing virginity does not mean losing the future, considering that one of the most important goals of literature.

Parsipur passed away on July 3, 2026, leaving a literary and intellectual legacy that made her one of the most prominent writers defending women’s rights and freedom of expression in contemporary Iranian literature.