Shokoofeh Azar (born 1972) is an Iranian-Australian author and journalist. Her novel, ''The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree,'' has been nominated for the

Stella Prize The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...

and the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announce ...

Life

Azar was born in Iran in 1972. Her father was an author and a poet, and she studied literature in university before becoming a writer and journalist. She began her career as an editor and wrote as well for a literary encyclopedia in Iran. She later worked as an editor in a newspaper, before taking up writing as a journalist. As a journalist, she covered issues relating to human rights, and particularly, women's rights. She was arrested thrice in connection with her work, which was often critical of the Iranian government, and had been placed in solitary confinement for a period of three months during one such arrest. On advice from her family, she fled Iran to Turkey, and from there to Indonesia, from where she traveled by boat, arriving at an Australian refugee detention center on

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

in 2011. She was granted political asylum in Australia in 2011. She did not speak English upon her arrival in Australia, and learned the language as an adult. She currently lives in

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. She graduated with a Bachelor of Communications with Honours via

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn P ...

’s Cloud Campus.

Writing

Azar's 2020 novel, ''The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree'' is set in Iran, deploying magic realism to narrate the incidents surrounding the life of a family in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

during the

1979 Islamic Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. The novel was originally written in

Farsi Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and u ...

, and was first published in English translation by the Wild Dingo Press in Australia in 2017. The translator has chosen to remain anonymous. It was nominated for the Stella Prize for Fiction in Australia in 2018. It was also on the long list for the

in 2020, and Azar is the first Iranian author to have been nominated for the prize. The book was republished for audiences outside Australia by

Europa Editions Europa Editions is an independent trade publisher based in New York. The company was founded in 2005 by the owners of the Italian press Edizioni E/O and specializes in literary fiction, mysteries, and narrative non-fiction. Europa has published ...

Publications

* ''Companion in Writing and Editing Essays'' * * * ''The woman who went to stand there.'', Westerly; Jun2014, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p18-24, 7p * ''That's what its name is: Forget-me-not.'' Westerly; Jun2013, Vol. 58 Issue 1, p232-236, 5p

Awards

* (1997) Best Book Award (Iran): for ''Companion in Writing and Editing Essays'' (in Farsi) * (2018) Stella Prize for Fiction: nominated for ''The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree'' * ''The River Woman.'' Westerly; Jun2013, Vol. 58 Issue 1, p237-243, 7p * (2020) International Booker Prize for Fiction: nominated for ''The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree''

References

External links

Shokoofeh Azar - Deakin University

Shokoofeh - National Book Foundation

Stella Prize
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Azar, Shokoofeh 1972 births Living people 20th-century women writers Iranian writers Australian writers Iranian women writers Australian women writers