Middle Eastern Women’s Literature Recommendations


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A few weeks ago I posted about author Masha Hamilton and her Afghan Women’s Writing Project. Check out my post if you missed it. This is a great project.

I recommended the books A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and asked if any of you had any other recommendations for Middle Eastern women’s literature. There were a few, so I thought I’d share them with everyone in a post.

Nymeth at things mean a lot said she also liked Persepolis and Reading Lolita but also recommended Iran Awakening, a memoir by Shirin Ebadi. Nymeth writes, “I thought it was even more interesting than the first two because unlike Satrapi and Nafisi, she didn’t move abroad eventually. She’s still in Iran, trying to change the system from within and fighting every day for women’s and children’s rights.”

Misty at Book Rat also recommended Persepolis but also recommended the non-contemporary young adult books, Anahita’s Woven Riddle by Meghan Nuttall Sayres and Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. She also suggested that we look at the multi-cultural folder in the Wild Things group on GoodReads for more recommendations.

Do you have any more books I should add to this list?

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3 Comments

  1. I've read A Thousand Splendid Suns and very much enjoyed it.

    You have an award at tampabookworm.blogspot.com/

    Have a great week!

  2. That one is actually written by a man, but it's about two women. It's heartbreaking, but it's so good.

  3. I know A Thousand Splendid Suns, but I haven't read it yet. I just realized I haven't read any literature written by a Middle Eastern woman. Whoah…I really should

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