Reading Lolita in Tehran, the film adaptation, is now on Kanopy for US public libraries!
Reading Lolita in Tehran, the adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s beloved memoir, is now on Kanopy!
In revolutionary Iran, as fundamentalists tighten their grip on society, a professor secretly gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to read and discuss forbidden classics of Western literature, including Lolita and Pride and Prejudice.
Directed by Eran Riklis and based on the bestselling memoir by Azar Nafisi, the film stars Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson), Zar Amir (Holy Spider), and Mina Kavani (No Bears). Nafisi’s memoir became a modern classic for its firsthand account of the women who risked their lives to study Western literature together in secret — the book drew praise on release from writers like Margaret Atwood and reviewers who called it one of the more resonant nonfiction works of the past several decades.
Reading Lolita in Tehran
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“Stunning . . . a literary life raft on Iran’s fundamentalist sea.”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale
“An intimate memoir of life under a repressive regime and a celebration of the vitality of literature . . . as rich and profound as the novels Nafisi teaches.”—The Miami Herald
Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azar Nafisi, a bold and inspired teacher, secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics.
Some of the women came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; some had spent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first, unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon they removed their veils and began to speak more freely—their stories intertwining with the novels they were reading by Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov.
As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, as fundamentalists seized hold of the universities and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the women in Nafisi’s living room spoke not only of the books they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams, and disappointments.
Azar Nafisi’s luminous masterwork gives us a rare glimpse, from the inside, of women’s lives in revolutionary Iran. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a work of great passion and poetic beauty, a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny, and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.
Programming Ideas
- Pair a screening with Nafisi’s memoir and host a discussion on what the adaptation kept, changed, or left out.
- Use the film to anchor a broader banned and challenged books display, tying in the story’s central theme of reading forbidden literature.
- Invite a local educator, librarian, or scholar to speak on censorship, literacy access, or Iranian history following a screening.
Download our marketing kit for Reading Lolita in Tehran on the US Resource Center and promote the film to your patrons with social media graphics and printable flyer.