The Life Story of a Female Publisher: Steady and Persistent Until the Last Breath

Iranian society experienced a brief period of a “sharp rise in book publishing” between 1982 and 1984, following the turbulent years of the 1979 Revolution, leading to what could be called a “book renaissance,” albeit one that lasted only for a decade (Azarang, 1996: 28)^[1]. During this time, the total number of book titles increased from 1,491 to 6,530; however, the number of books addressing women’s issues remained limited. Among the books classified as “Women, Family, and Feminism” by Iran’s National Library, only ten were not related to Islamic or ideological texts, and of these, nine were written or translated by men. The Memoirs of Taj al-Saltaneh [the daughter of Nasereddin Shah Qajar] was the only book authored by a woman^[2].

By the time Shahla Lahiji moved from Behbahan to Tehran (1983) to sell her bridal bracelet and secure a 50,000-toman loan to establish Roshangaran Publishing House, the book spring had already turned to an autumn. Between 1984 and 1987, the number of published titles dropped from 6,530 to fewer than 4,000, a figure reminiscent of the early 1970s. Different factors contributed to the sharp decline: the state authority has been consolidated, while the longing Iran-Iraq War had led to severe shortages and rising costs of paper; These crisis were intensified by mass migration to cities, rapid population growth and changing social values.

Yet Shahla Lahiji was not someone who entered the field impulsively or to seize fleeting opportunities, only to withdraw when challenges emerged. She was one of those remarkable women who create opportunities themselves and remain steadfast in their commitment to a cause. She managed her activities to ensure the longevity of her work, believing in moving forward “steadily and persistently.” Through her efforts, Roshangaran—which I define its history by five key characteristics—thrived in Iran’s male-dominated publishing industry over the past four decades. Exploring these defining traits honors Shahla Lahiji, recognizes the history of contemporary women’s book publishing in Iran, and conveys gratitude to the writers who contributed to this field.

These five defining characteristics of Lahiji’s legacy—shaped by her personal attributes, the aspirations of her generation of women, and the social and political conditions of Iran over the past four decades—include: are as follows: Establishing a specialized women’s publishing house and contributing to it through her own writings; Persistently producing and publishing books with a women-centered perspective on topics relevant to Iranian women; Challenging censorship in the public sphere concerning women’s issues; Supporting the growth of female authors by publishing their first works; and finally transforming the Roshangaran and Women’s Studies Publishing House into a hub for alliances and collaborations within the women’s movement.

Founding a Women’s Publishing House at the Onset of the “Autumn of Books”

Following the revolution, four women entered the publishing industry within a very short span: Sima Kuban^[3] (1982), Shahla Lahiji (1983), Mansoureh Ettehadieh (1983), and Farideh Khalatbari (1984). Among them, only three managed to remain in the industry. Sima Kuban was arrested in 1985 under the pretext of publishing a book. Although released shortly thereafter, she was not permitted to continue her publishing house.

Roshangaran charted its path from the very first titles it introduced to the book market during this challenging period. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), the number of books addressing women’s issues was extremely low, as the war marginalized these topics. The limited references to women’s voices focused primarily on “mothers and wives of martyrs” and their struggles.

The National Library records indicate that most titles published under the category of “Women, Family, and Feminism” between 1985 and 1988 were characterized by overtly Islamic and ideological perspectives or focused on family planning and population control—key concerns of state organizations following the 1986 census, which reported high population growth^[4]. Only 11 titles addressed other women’s issues, including six books published by government ministries and state-affiliated publishers. Two notable titles from Roshangaran included The Emancipation of Women (translated by Shahla Lahiji and Farideh Assarpoor) and Women in Bahram Beyzai’s Works (written by Shahla Lahiji)^[5].

Even after the war ended, addressing women’s issues remained challenging (Mir-Hosseini, 2005). A study shows that between 1992 and 1997, only 16 out of 5,074 titles published in the social sciences were categorized under “Women and Family.” In 1988, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution issued a directive titled Regulations on Book Publishing and the Pre-Release Licensing Process, officially instituting pre-publication censorship. In 2010, a new directive was drafted, emphasizing in Article 15 that the Ministry of Culture’s oversight of books does not absolve publishers of their responsibilities. However, following the 1997 presidential election and political changes that reduced the censorship and revived the book market, the number of books on women’s issues increased. Between 1998 and 2002 the number of social science titles increased from 1,288 to 3,126 (2.4 times more) and women issues titles from 45 to 128 titles (2.8 times more).

An analysis of books published on “Women and Family” from 1992 to 2002 reveals a total of 404 titles within this category, distributed across ten subcategories. Among these, 25 titles focused on “sexual discrimination and mistreatment of women,” while six addressed “employment and economic aspects.” When including books on legal issues, particularly those related to marriage and divorce, the total rises to 100 titles^[6]. Roshangaran published 31 titles out of this total, reflecting its significant role in addressing more sensitive issues within the field. However, this effort represented only a small niche within the broader landscape of books on women’s issues, which were largely shaped by the state’s perspective and dominated the book market. By 2019, Roshangaran had published over 400 titles including 90 titles on women’s issues (Lahiji, 2019), or almost one new title each month and one new title on women’s issues each five months over its four decades of activity (excluding reprints and titles that did not receive publication permits). Between 2019 and 2023, the publisher added ten more titles to this number. This record of achievements is particularly noteworthy considering that many of Roshangaran’s book proposals on women’s issues were denied publication permits. As Lahiji stated in 2015, explaining her decision not to participate in the Tehran Book Fair: “Since 2014, 55 of my proposed titles have not received publication permits from the Ministry of Culture.”

The Rise of Female Writers and the Publisher of the Debut Works

The rapid growth in the number of female writers during the Revolution—rising from 11 to 80 authors between 1978 and 1979 [7.3 times more]—declined through the 1980s. By 1988 the number of female writers was 293 (3.7 times more than 1979] or half of the growth seen in the year of Revolution. (Donyaye Eqtesad, 2018). Roshangaran published the debut works of several female authors, some of whom went on to become influential figures in the women’s movement in subsequent years.

Close research and publishing collaborations with Mehrangiz Kar and the publication of most of Shirin Ebadi’s books, beginning in the late 1980s, not only forged strong connections among these three dedicated women but also tied them closely to the women’s movement. This collaboration played a pivotal role in highlighting women’s issues within Iranian society and solidified their status as key pillars of the secular segment of the women’s movement during that period. Although the books by Shirin Ebadi published by Roshangaran primarily addressed children’s rights and human rights—such as The Rights of the Child: A Look at Legal Issues Facing Children in Iran (1990) and A History and Documents of Human Rights in Iran (1994)—the reality is that during a time when raising women’s issues was considered taboo, many women interested in these topics were drawn to children’s issues. Through this lens, they sought to connect with girls’ rights and, ultimately, with women’s issues. Mehrangiz Kar intellectual contribution to this scholarship, including her book Children of Addiction (1990) or The Angel of Justice and Fragments of Hell (1991), but especially those published during 1990s, were significant and played an important and influential role in shaping the discourse within the women’s movement.

Roshangaran published Afsaneh Najmabadi’s first book in Persian, The Story of the Daughters of Quchan (1995), which opened new avenues in gender-based historiography for scholars in Iran. Shahla Ezazi, a sociologist and university professor, was one of the few women in academia to effectively address women’s issues. Her book, The Sociology of the Family, published by Roshangaran in 1997, became an academic text used in women’s studies programs for a time. Roshangaran also published the first and one of the few books by the prominent linguist Katayoun Mazdapour on women, The Cunning of Women (1995). Additionally, Roshangaran published the debut works of several translators who later became prominent in translating related books. This included Soheila Beski’s translation of The Biography of Virginia Woolf (1992), Shirindokht Daghighian’s translation of Beloved by Toni Morrison (1994), Manijeh Najm Araghi and Marseedeh Salehpour’s Women and Cinema (1997), and Nastaran Mousavi’s Rosa Luxemburg (1996). The publication of these books by Roshangaran, especially during a time when society was still under tight restrictions, played a crucial role in shaping a discourse on women’s issues. However, books on women’s issues were not widely embraced, even by women themselves. As a result, Lahiji had to navigate a delicate and precarious path, balancing two challenges: ensuring the survival of her publishing house and advancing women’s issues through the medium of books.

On the other hand, Lahiji attributed significant importance to literature in driving cultural transformations. The website of Roshangaran prominently features the motto: Support for the Creative Work and Activities of Women in Literature and Lahiji remained committed to this cause. In the mid-1990s, as censorship of literary works declined and public interest in fiction grew, she expanded her publishing efforts in fiction and literature. She also ventured into less commercially successful areas, such as film analysis and literary criticism. Notably, she co-produced two issues of the journal Aineha (Mirrors) (1994 and 1997) with Elham Mehvizani, focusing on the analysis and critique of contemporary literary works. Her dedication to serious, women-centered literature was evident in her editorial decisions. For example, she declined to publish the widely popular novel The Morning After (Bamdad-e Khomar) when its author initially approached Roshangaran, as it did not align with her women-focused publishing standards. Roshangaran turned to become the publisher of many debut works by female authors reflecting on women’s lives through a feminist perspective. These included works by authors such as Naghmeh Samini, Mansoureh Sharifzadeh, Shiva Arastooei, Lili Farhadpour, Farideh Golbou, Mahboubeh Mirghadiri, Narges Moqadasian, Mahnaz Azarnia, Nahid Shams, Ghazal Tajbakhsh, Vida Farhoodi, Fereshteh Kowsar, Mehri Yalfani, Sepideh Mohammadian, Esmat Abbasi, Shervindokht Ayazi, Narjes Khodai, Maryam Afshar, Shamim Shahla, Azam Ebrahimi, and others. Consequently, while one-fifth of Roshangaran’s book titles were directly related to women’s issues ^[7], more than half of its other titles in various fields were authored by women^[8]. This is particularly noteworthy given that, during most of these years, female writers accounted for only one-third of their male counterparts^[9].

Publishing Categories of Roshangaran in Women’s Studies

Lahiji’s interests in women’s issues were broad, covering topics such as emancipation, legal rights, culture, politics, and employment. However, she placed a particular focus on the issue of women’s employment.

Women’s Employment

Women’s employment and economic independence were central themes for Shahla Lahiji. She highlights their importance in the preface of one of Roshangaran’s earliest publications, The Emancipation of Women:

“The issue of women’s employment has always been a controversial socio-economic topic, frequently discussed in developed countries at the beginning of the [20th] century and in developing countries in recent decades. This is because, immediately following the subject of women’s employment and their participation in production or services and their relative economic independence, another critical issue arises —namely, women’s social and political rights” (Werner, 2003).

Lahiji (2012) believed: “Aside from economic independence, there is no stable and enduring criterion for achieving equal rights for women and ensuring their extension and permanence.” The publication of books such as Women in Iran’s Labor Market (Mehrangiz Kar, 1994), The Role of Women in Development (1993), The Role of Education in Economic Development (1997), and Women’s Employment in Iranian and International Labor Law (2003) indicates her support of the field. This trajectory continued in 2003 with the publication of Paths to Developing Women’s Entrepreneurship in Iran authored by Firoozeh Saber. Subsequently, Lahiji became a member of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs and collaborated with them to publish three issues of a collection titled Insights into the Experiences of Women Entrepreneurs in Iran in 2014, 2019, and 2020. The book Breaking the Glass Ceiling (Adeleh Abedinpour, 2021), which documents the lived experiences of several women managers who have reached senior management positions in industry, represents the continuation of publishing in this area.

Women’s identity

In the 1980s, Roshangaran also focused on historical research and cultural studies related to women. This focus was both a response to the growing interest in understanding women’s status in the past and an opportunity to explore the roots of women’s desire for change within Iran’s cultural pluralism. In the mid-1980s, Lahiji, in collaboration with Mehrangiz Kar, began research on the book Exploring the Identity of Iranian Women in Prehistory and History, which was eventually published in 1992. The research and publication of the second volume of this book continued until 2018.

Lahiji’s unwavering dedication to exploring “women’s identities” in thought, history, and Iranian mythology spanned her four decades of tireless work. This commitment resulted in the publication of numerous books by Roshangaran, including The Myths of the Middle East, translated by Farangis Mazdâ Pour (1990), Women in the Era of Pharaohs and the Secrets of Ancient Egyptian Civilization (2006), Women and Identity Formation in Contemporary Iran by Guiti Azizzadeh (2007), The Simulacrum: Patterns of Representation of Women in 1990s Magazines by Atoosa Râvash (2010), Women in Sacred Texts: Christianity and Judaism (2010), and Goddesses in Iranian and Global Myths and Culture(2014). Roshangaran’s important books in the field of women’s psychology include notable works like Women in Fairy Tales: From the Perspective of Jungian Analytical Psychology (2018), The Cinderella Complex (2008), and Mythological Symbols and Women’s Psychology (1994), and Women in Nietzsche’s Thought (2003).

Lahiji’s focus on publishing the works of Bahram Beyzai marks her interest in the study of women and culture. During the 1980s, cinema gradually assumed the cultural significance that poetry had held among the younger generation in the years before the Revolution. Roshangaran, in harmony with this trend, published scripts and plays by Bahram Beyzai and other authors. The

Publication of 57 titles by Bahram Beyzai underscored the filmmaker’s focus on women and the important role of the female characters in his plays and screenplays. Lahiji (2019b) asserted that “the exploration of women’s identity began with Beyzai’s works” and that publishing his works aimed to “advance women’s issues” in society.

Women’s Rights and Gender-Based Violence

As the political climate became more open to discussing women’s issues after the 1997 election, Roshangaran began publishing works that reflected a more advanced level of women’s demands. These included books on legal discrimination against women, such as the training booklets of What We Need to Know About Marriage Rights, which aimed to introduce women’s legal rights in accessible language. Five booklets of this series were published between 1996 and 2000 under the name The Women’s Issues Research Group. Other notable publications included The Legal Structure of the Family System by Mehrangiz Kar (1999), Equality of Women and Men (2003), and several books addressing violence against women^[10]. A Study on Violence Against Women in Iran (2000) by Mehrangiz Kar, one of the earliest research reports critiquing violence against women in Iran, brought to the public by Roshangaran. Its impact on raising awareness about the topic among feminist activists is undeniable. One notable example was the first women’s campaign against violence, titled The Campaign of Women and Men Against Violence until March 8, launched in 2003. The campaign culminated in a gathering at Laleh Park in Tehran, which, however, faced police intervention.

Roshangaran continued its work in the field of violence against women by publishing books such as Women’s Rage, translated by Âlieh Hejazi in 2005, and The Tragedy of the Body: Violence Against Women by Fatemeh Karimi in 2010. The Tragedy of the Body focuses on female genital mutilation (FGM) and is one of the first books to include the term women’s bodies in its title—a subject that today has become a central issue in women’s activism in Iran. Another notable work in this field was The Blade and Tradition by Râyeheh Mozafarian, published by Roshangaran in 2016, which also addressed the topic of FGM. Books like Little Victims by Ghoncheh Râheb (2010) and The Ring by Râyeheh Mozafarian (2016) explore violence against young girls. Similarly, Mahdieh Shahriari-Moghaddam drew upon her own experiences in Zâhedan and her work with Afghan refugee women to write the novel Paper Dreams.

Women’s Political Participation

Roshangaran’s focus on the topic of women’s political participation in the mid-1990s reflects the broader debates about women’s representation in Iranian society in this era. Books such as The Political Rights of Iranian Women (1997) and Women’s Political Participation: Obstacles and Opportunities (2000) by Mehrangiz Kar, as well as Gender and Political Participation (2002) and Gender and the Political Philosophy of Elections (2017) highlight the intersection of women’s concerns and discussions about women’s political engagement.

Women’s History

In the 2000s, as the initial hope of the Reform Era gradually gave way to despair due to numerous obstacles imposed by the hardline core of power, public interest in revisiting and reinterpreting history was reignited. In response, Roshangaran began publishing books that explored history and examined historical conditions from a women’s perspective. The book on The Special Journals for Women authored by Sedigheh Babran (2002), The Chronicle of Andarouni by Banafsheh Hejazi (2003), Gender, Nationalism, and Modernity in Iran by Fatemeh Sadeghi (2005), Iranian Women Playwrights by Golmehr Kazari (2005), Letters of Iranian Women (2016), The Diary of Sixteen Iranian Women in the Realm of Everyday Life (2018), The Constitutional Era, Women, and Social Changes (2018), The Evolution of Women’s Dramatic Literature in Iran from 1910 to 1978 (2020), Women in Iran-e Now: Exploring Women’s Social Issues in the Iran-e Now Newspaper (1909-1911) (2021), and Women’s Student Publications in Iran (2023). Beyond exploring women’s history in Iran, Roshangaran also examined the status of women in similar historical contexts in other countries. An example of this is the publication of Women on the Broken Cross: The Status of Women in Nazi Germany (2004).

Roshangaran and Feminist Theories

In the first two decades following the 1979 Revolution, feminist theories were rarely addressed in book form. The only notable example is The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, first published in 1981 in Iran. The foundational texts on sociology translated from other languages in the 1990s, included chapters dedicated to feminist theories. One example is Sociological Theory in the Contemporary Era by George Ritzer, translated by Mohsen Salasi and published in 1995. Homa Zanjanizadeh’s translation of Feminism: The Women’s Social Movement by André Michel, published by Nika Press in Mashhad in 1997, could be considered the first standalone book in the field of feminism. That same year, An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives by Pamela Abbott and Claire Wallace, translated by Maryam Khorasani and Hamid Ahmadi was published by Donya-ye Madar.

According to the study by Tabatabai-Amiri et al. (2017), a total of 877 translated books in the fields of gender, women, and family had been published in Iran by 2016. Of these, slightly over 83% were categorized under family, 11.6% under women, and only 5% under feminism. The study also indicates that the 1970s saw the lowest number of translated books in these fields, while the 2000s experienced the highest. However, this upward trend sharply declined starting in 2010.

Shahla Lahiji began publishing books on feminist theories in the 1990s by introducing a collection of articles authored by feminist scholars and writers. The series of Women and Cinema (1997)^[11], Women’s Rights, Human Rights by Ghasemian et al. (2003), and three issues of the Women’s Season periodical edited by Nooshin Ahmadi Khorasani (2004 and 2005) were among them. Feminism and Perspectives, was another important series produced by Shahla Ezazi and her colleagues at the women’s committee of the Iranian Sociological Association, including Firoozeh Mohajer, Maryam Khorasani, Farrokh Qaradaghi, Nayereh Tavakoli, and others (2006). Roshangaran published other significant works in the field, such as The History of Feminism (2006), What Is Feminism: An Introduction to Feminist Theory (2006), Feminist Epistemology (2012), and Women: Gender, Evolution, and the End of Gender Discrimination (2021).

Environment and Transgenders

In the mid-2010s, Roshangaran turned its attention to environmental issues, publishing Urgent Message from Mother Earth: Gather the Women and Save the World  (2016) and From Women to Earth, a collection of stories about women and the environment (2021). In line with the growing discourse on diverse gender identities within the women’s movement, Roshangaran also published An Overview of Transgender Lives (2021).

Documenting Women’s Cultural Events

Roshangaran’s ties to women’s issues were reinforced through its reciprocal relationship with cultural events in society concerning women. In the 1990s, films by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, such as The Blue Veiled, The May Lady, and Under the Skin of the City, gained significant influence, particularly due to their focus on women’s issues. During this time, Lahiji devoted considerable attention to publishing analytical works on these films. In 2000, Roshangaran released a book that analyzed and examined Under the Skin of the City. Similarly, in 2003, when Shirin Ebadi received the Nobel Peace Prize, Roshangaran released the book Nothing Special Happened: A Festschrift for the Nobel Peace Prize Winner. In the 2010s, when the film Hush! Girls Don’t Scream by Pouran Derakhshandeh became a significant work in women’s society, Roshangaran published its script in 2014 under the same title as the movie, written by Mitra Bahrami and the filmmaker herself. Through the publication of these works, Roshangaran sought to highlight impactful events in the realm of women’s issues and to preserve their significance in our cultural history.

Fighting Censorship and Promoting Democracy

Book censorship in Iran, which dates back to the 1924 banning of Noqteh-e Alkaf^[12] by the Ministry of Education and Police, has remained a major obstacle to cultural development and the growth of reading and book publishing in Iranian society. This has been particularly challenging for works related to women. Even, Mehrangiz Manouchehrian [the first female senator in the Iranian Senate from 1963 to 1972] had to move between printing houses in 1949, secretly printing sections of her book A Critique of the Iranian Constitution from the Perspective of Women’s Rights to avoid censorship. Similarly, as a women’s publisher, Shahla Lahiji was forced to fight against censorship. “Lahiji was one of 134 writers who signed the statement We Are Writers in 1994, demanding freedom of expression and an end to censorship… In 1998, amid the political murders—including the serial killings that claimed the lives of two members of the Iranian Writers’ Association—she was elected to the temporary board of the association”.^[13]

For several years, Lahiji boycotted the Tehran Book Fair in protest against the Ministry of Culture’s interference in the Publishers’ Union’s affairs. On one occasion, she attended the fair solely to display her books without selling them, aiming to restore the fair to its intended purpose. She tirelessly negotiated with Ministry of Culture officials to secure permissions for her books, often resorting to legal threats when faced with unreasonable restrictions^[14]. Her persistent efforts led filmmaker, playwright and theatre director, Bahram Beyzai (2024) to write in a message commemorating Lahiji’s passing: “She shielded me with her unwavering support, taking on the burden of my decades-long struggle with book censorship.”

It was likely these relentless efforts against censorship that made Lahiji the first Iranian woman to receive the Freedom to Publish Prize from the International Publishers Association in 2006.

In addition to her fight against censorship in publishing books about women, Roshangaran also contributed significantly to literature on understanding authoritarian regimes, where censorship is a cornerstone of power. The first book published by Roshangaran, L’engrenage

by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Roshanak Dariush^[15], recounts the story of a failed revolution and the shattered dreams of an oil-rich nation. It reflects Lahiji’s perspective on the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Lahiji was one of three publishers^[16] in the 1980s to release a work by Hannah Arendt, the renowned philosopher of freedom. Roshangaran published the Persian translation of Arendt’s The Hungarian Revolution: A Popular Uprising Against Totalitarianism in 1987, marking one of the first steps intellectuals and publishers took to introduce Arendt’s philosophy to Iranian society. Roshangaran continued this political genre by publishing Models of Democracy (1990), translated by Abbas Mokhber, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind by Gustave Le Bon (1990), translated by Kiumars Khajaviha, The Ideology of the Iranian Constitutional Movement: The First Parliament and the Crisis of Freedom (1991) authored by Fereydoun Adamiyat, and Milan Kundera’s notable works.

Roshangaran also published Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, one of the most iconic anti-war books, a few years after the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, during a time when war and revolution were still being glorified. Later, Lahiji published foundational and classic texts on liberal thought, including On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (2009), The Second Treatise of Civil Government by John Locke (2009), and Common Sense by Thomas Paine (2023).

Other significant works published by Roshangaran in this context include Humanity and Violence (1995), A Political Life (1995), A Psychological Study of Autocracy (2006), Civil Society, Civil Resistance (2008), Loneliness and Totalitarianism (2009), and Modern Dictators (2011).

Shahla Lahiji’s Multifaceted Ties to the Women’s Movement

The relationship between Lahiji, Roshangaran, and women’s issues, as well as the women’s social movement, was multi-layered and went beyond the content of the books published on women. Lahiji frequently engaged with the press and media on topics such as censorship, the status of women, and the cultural challenges facing society. As a result, the Roshangaran publishing office was not merely a meeting place for writers and translators; it also became a hub for journalists, particularly female journalists, who often reflected their concerns about women’s issues in public discourse through conversations with Lahiji.

Furthermore, readers and enthusiasts of women’s literature knew that visiting the Roshangaran office not only allowed them to access the books they needed but also offered an opportunity to hear Shahla Lahiji discuss the most pressing issues affecting women, as well as the role of women in literature and culture. Notably, Lahiji was not only a theorist who wrote and conducted research on women’s issues but also an active participant in the women’s movement. She worked to establish institutions and bolster women’s presence in professional organizations.

She played a significant and influential role in the Publishers’ Union and, in 1996, was one of the founders of the Women Publishers Collective. This professional and civic institution organized the first Women Publishers Exhibition in March 1998, bringing together various women’s civil and media organizations to facilitate dialogue and future collaborations among women activists with diverse perspectives and fields of expertise.

Additionally, Lahiji was instrumental in forming coalitions and alliances within the women’s movement. She even participated in the women’s protest rally on June 12, 2006, at Tehran’s Haft-e Tir Square, which ultimately ended in violence. She later became one of the first signatories and supporters of the One Million Signatures Campaign. Beyond Lahiji herself, the Roshangaran office on the ground floor of Yusefabad Street became a symbolic “house for women,” hosting countless meetings and coalitions involving at least two generations of women activists. It served as a tangible space that embodied the historical memory and accumulated experiences of the women’s movement over three decades. Thus, Shahla Lahiji’s contributions to women’s issues and the women’s movement extended beyond her identity as a woman publisher.

Lahiji’s four decades of consistent and persistent efforts in publishing works on women, which continued until her final days, earned her the title of “the first women’s publisher in Iran.” It is a title tailored to the enduring strength and resilience she demonstrated in the face of challenges—challenges that began in the 1980s with prolonged interrogations regarding establishing Roshangaran and continued until 2001 when she was imprisoned for six months due to her participation in the Berlin Conference. Her cultural institution, Tehran Cultural Hangout, was shut down in 2002 ahead of a Q&A session with Simin Behbahani [prominent Iranian poet]. Finally, in 2004, the Yusefabad office of Roshangaran was set ablaze—a fire that later spread to the women’s movement itself. Despite the fire, Roshangaran endured, as the women’s movement rose from the ashes with the emergence of a new generation of women activists, thriving in the Jina Movement.

References

• Azarang, Abdolhossein. 1996. Ordinary and Critical Periods in Iranian Book Publishing. Humanities Portal, Year 5, Issue No. 28.
• Beyzaei, Bahram, 2024. A message to Gilan Art News, January 19, 2024.
• Lahiji, Shahla. 2012. Interview with Feminist School: The Imperialist Narrative is Ineffective in Understanding the Rise of Regional Movements. December 2012.
• Lahiji, Shahla. 2019. What Do Women Publishers Do at the Book Fair? IBNA website, April 26, 2019.
• Lahiji, Shahla, 2019 b. Interview with Cinema Website, March 27, 2019.
• Mir-Hosseini, Zohreh. 2005. Women and Family in 25 Years of Book Publishing. Payam-e Zan, Issue 157, March 2005.
• Tabatabai-Amiri, Fa’ezeh Sadat, Reza Karimi, and Tayyebeh Haj-Baqerian. 2017. Thematic Trends and Status of Translated Books on Gender, Women, and Families in Iran. Journal of Information Management, Year 3, Issue 2, Summer 2017, Serial Number 7.
• Werner Thönnessen, 2003. The Emancipation of Women: The Rise and Decline of the Women’s Movement in German Social Democracy, 1863-1933 Translated by Shahla Lahiji and Farideh Asarpoor. Tehran: Roshangaran and Women’s Studies, Second Edition, 2003, p. 5.

Endotes

1. In 1982, Mohammad Khatami assumed the presidency of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, during which the annual Book Fair and the Fajr Film Festival were established by the ministry. In 1992, under significant pressure from hardliners accusing the ministry of becoming a hub of Western and enemy influence, Khatami was compelled to resign. ↑
2. These books include: Women of Iran in the Constitutional Movement (Abdolhossein Nahid) and The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Ghasem Saanvi), published in 1981; Are Men Truly Superior to Women? (Corinne Hutt, translated by Mahmoud Behzad), Let Me Speak: Testimony of Domitila, a Woman of the Bolivian Mothers (translated by Ahmad Shamloo), Women’s Resistance in Palestine (compiled and translated by Morteza Fahim Kermani), Mother Jones (Mary Jones, translated by A. Pashaei), and Women and Mathematics (translated by Parviz Shahriari) published in 1982; Do You Know Women’s Rights in Marriage? (Council of Authors, Rahnama), Behind the Veil of the Harem (Hassan Azad), and Taj-ol-Saltaneh (Mansoureh Ettehadieh) published in 1983; and Man in the Age of Savagery (Evelyn Reid, translated by Mahmoud Enayat) and Sufi Women (Javad Zarabakhsh) released in 1984. ↑
3. Sima Kouban, who launched her publishing house with Partow Nooriala and Monir Raminfar, continued her interest in publishing journals on research, literature, and the arts in collaboration with Shahla Lahiji after her publishing house was shut down. This collaboration resulted in over six volumes of the Tehran Book series (from 1991 to 1997) and the Tehran Ghadim series in 2009. In 1995, Kouban emigrated to France. ↑
4. Between 1981 and 1990, around 17 million people were born, and Iran’s population grew from 36 million at the beginning of the revolution to approximately 56 million by 1991. This generation, later known as the “60s generation,” faced unprecedentedly fierce competition in education, employment, entertainment, and other areas. ↑
5. Three other books, The Promised Family of Marxism (Shahriar Rouhani, Ghalam Publishing), Portrait of Two Women: A Summary and Interpretation of Nezami Ganjavi’s Khosrow and Shirin and Leyli and Majnun (Saeedi Sirjani, Nashr-e-Now), and The Family as a Structure Opposed to Society (Heidi Rosenbaum, translated by Mohammad Sadegh Mahdavi, Center for Academic Publishing), were all written or translated by men. ↑
6. Other subcategories included topics like family planning, parenting, male-female relationships (marriage and family life), household management, psychology of women and families, social and ethical issues (Islam and the family), and family health. ↑
7. If Bahram Beyzai’s books, which constitute a distinct category within Roshangaran’s publications, are excluded from the overall list of its published works. ↑
8. Information about Roshangaran’s books is based on incomplete records available at Roshangaran Publications and the author’s searches on the Ministry of Culture’s Book House website. However, the accuracy of this data declined after changes to the website’s format in the 1990s, leading to discrepancies between the website’s information and Roshangaran’s incomplete internal lists. ↑
9. In 1978, 11 women and 288 men authored books in Iran. By 2017, this ratio had grown to 28,239 women versus 60,033 men. Donyaye Eqtesad, September 7, 2018. ↑
10. The first book on domestic violence against women after the revolution might be Battered Women: The Psychology of Domestic Violence, translated by Mehdi Qarache-Daghi, published by Elmi Publishing in 1998, although it was a translation. ↑
11. Manijeh Araqi, Mersedeh Salehpour, and Nastaran Mousavi, the translators of this series, founded the Forough Knowledge Researchers Institute in 1997 to provide resources for students and enthusiasts interested in women’s studies. ↑
12. This book discussed the emergence of Babism and was imported into the country as a foreign publication. ↑
13. Announcement by the Iranian Writers’ Association on the death of Shahla Lahiji. ↑
14. According to Mehrangiz Kar, Shahla Lahiji once threatened the Ministry of Culture with legal action if it revoked the permanent publication license for one of her books. ↑
15. Shahla Lahiji co-founded Roshangaran with Roshanak Dariush. However, this collaboration lasted only a few years. Dariush published three books with Roshangaran by 1995 and moved to Germany in 2000. Following the Berlin Conference, an arrest warrant was issued for her, and she never returned to Iran. She passed away in Germany in 2003. ↑
16. The first book by Hannah Arendt, The Revolution, was translated by Ezzatollah Fooladvand and published by Kharazmi Publishing in 1982. Her book The Origins of Totalitarianism was translated by Mohsen Salasi and published by Javidan Publishing in 1983.