Azar Nafisi is a visiting professor and the director of the Dialogue Project at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She has taught Western literature at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University, and the University of Allameh Tabatabai in Iran. In 1981 she was expelled from the University of Tehran after refusing to wear the veil. In 1994 she won a teaching fellowship from Oxford University, and in 1997 she and her family left Iran for America. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic and has appeared on countless radio and television programs. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children.www.azarnafisi.com

"[Things I've Been Silent About] transports us to a world that is at once enchanting and threatening; it is a tale that mixes family feuds, politics and literature and holds our interest from the first to the last page. [It] may be read by some for its historic context. Others will be intrigued by what it says about the condition of women in the Islamic republic. To me, it was above all, a touching portrait of a troubled childhood in a family torn apart by a seductive father and an overbearing mother...But as the narrative unfolds against a complex and at times tragic political background, it is a political statement on Iran's modern history as much as a personal attempt to come to terms with a past by unravelling its secrets." Financial Times "A beautiful and sensitive book... [Nafisi's] belief in the power of culture to transform lives and societies is inspiring." The Times "A companion memoir to the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, this is Azar Nafisi's more personal account of growing up in Iran...an intriguing memoir." Metro "This powerful memoir, from the author of the global hit Reading Lolita in Tehran, is a bewitching story of Azar's relationship with her brilliant, beautiful, romanticising and fictionalising mother. Set against the background of change before the Islamic Revolution, it is a complex, provocative story of family life, lies and loves - and of a desire to work out the past." Good Housekeeping "Nafisi proves a compelling, and moving, witness." New Statesman

Azar Nafisi is a visiting professor and the director of the Dialogue Project at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University. She has taught Western literature at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University, and the University of Allameh Tabatabai in Iran. In 1981 she was expelled from the University of Tehran after refusing to wear the veil. In 1994 she won a teaching fellowship from Oxford University, and in 1997 she and her family left Iran for America. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic and has appeared on countless radio and television programs. She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and two children.www.azarnafisi.com

"[Things I've Been Silent About] transports us to a world that is at once enchanting and threatening; it is a tale that mixes family feuds, politics and literature and holds our interest from the first to the last page. [It] may be read by some for its historic context. Others will be intrigued by what it says about the condition of women in the Islamic republic. To me, it was above all, a touching portrait of a troubled childhood in a family torn apart by a seductive father and an overbearing mother...But as the narrative unfolds against a complex and at times tragic political background, it is a political statement on Iran's modern history as much as a personal attempt to come to terms with a past by unravelling its secrets." Financial Times "A beautiful and sensitive book... [Nafisi's] belief in the power of culture to transform lives and societies is inspiring." The Times "A companion memoir to the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, this is Azar Nafisi's more personal account of growing up in Iran...an intriguing memoir." Metro "This powerful memoir, from the author of the global hit Reading Lolita in Tehran, is a bewitching story of Azar's relationship with her brilliant, beautiful, romanticising and fictionalising mother. Set against the background of change before the Islamic Revolution, it is a complex, provocative story of family life, lies and loves - and of a desire to work out the past." Good Housekeeping "Nafisi proves a compelling, and moving, witness." New Statesman