Parsipur first English translation longlisted

Shahrnush Parsipur’s *Women Without Men* reached the 2026 International Booker Prize longlist in a new English-language edition translated by Faridoun Farrokh, bringing one of Iran’s best-known banned works to a wider Anglophone audience. The Booker Foundation lists the book among its 2026 longlisted titles and says Parsipur died on July 3 at age 80. The new UK edition was published on March 12 by Penguin International Writers, according to Feminist Press and The Conversation. The timing meant many English-language readers encountered Parsipur’s work in the months just before her death. ### Which book was longlisted, and who translated it? *Women Without Men* was longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize in Faridoun Farrokh’s English translation, the Booker Foundation says. The prize’s library page for Parsipur identifies Farrokh as the translator and names the book as the longlisted title. March 12, 2026, was the publication date for the new Penguin International Writers edition, according to Feminist Press. (thebookerprizes.com) The Conversation said that edition was the first full English-language translation to introduce Parsipur to a broader new readership in English. ### Why did this longlisting stand out? July 3 was the date of Parsipur’s death, according to the Booker Foundation, placing the longlist recognition close to the end of her life. (thebookerprizes.com) The Conversation said the March 2026 translation “introduced Parsipur to a new international readership” and earned a place on the longlist shortly before her death. (feministpress.org) 1989 was the original publication year of *Women Without Men*, and the novella had been banned in Iran for decades, according to The Conversation and the Booker Foundation. The book’s reappearance on a major prize list in 2026 therefore linked a contemporary literary award to a work long suppressed in its home country. (thebookerprizes.com) ### What is the novel about? The Booker Foundation says *Women Without Men* follows five women “against the background of revolution and coups” as they make their way to a garden. The Conversation describes the book as the story of five women fleeing violent marriages, social constraint and political turmoil before creating a refuge outside Tehran. (theconversation.com) 1953 is the political backdrop named in The Conversation’s March essay on the book. That piece situates the novella in the aftermath of the coup that toppled Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, while arguing that Parsipur used the women’s intertwined stories to expose patriarchy and state power. (thebookerprizes.com) ### Why was Parsipur such a contested figure in Iran? Parsipur was imprisoned under both the shah and the Islamic Republic, The Conversation said in its July 8 obituary essay. The Booker Foundation says she was jailed again after publishing *Women Without Men* because of its portrayal of women’s sexuality, and that the novel remained banned in Iran even as it became an underground bestseller there. (theconversation.com) 1994 was the year Parsipur received the Lillian Hellman–Dashiell Hammett Award for writers persecuted for exercising freedom of expression, according to The Conversation. The same essay says she later lived in exile in Northern California. ### What did the prize timeline look like? The 2026 International Booker longlist was announced in late February, according to Literary Hub’s roundup of the list. (theconversation.com) Literary Hub said the shortlist of six was due on March 31 and the winner was scheduled to be announced on May 19 in London. The Booker Foundation’s author page now serves as one of the clearest reference points for the book’s prize status and Parsipur’s death date, while the March 12 Penguin International Writers edition remains the edition tied to the 2026 longlist. (theconversation.com) (thebookerprizes.com) (lithub.com)