Nazila Fathi (born December 28, 1970) is an Iranian-Canadian author and former Teheran correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. She also reported on Iran for both ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' and ''

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

''. In her book ''The Lonely War,'' she interweaves her personal history with that of Iran, from the

1979 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 ...

until, when continuing to report from Iran became life-threatening in 2009, she was forced into exile.

Biography

Fathi was born in Tehran in 1970. Her father was a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Energy. She studied English at

Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; fa, دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی, ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a private university system headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleg ...

, and while there began working as a translator for foreign reporters. From that beginning she became a stringer for ''

'', ''

'', and

. Frustrated by the Iranian government's multi-year press accreditation process, Fathi moved to Canada in 1999 and became a Canadian citizen. She earned an MA in political science and women's studies from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in 2001 before returning to Tehran as a correspondent for ''The New York Times''. During the

2009 Iranian presidential election protests After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests co ...

, Fathi and other journalists reported on the violence by the Iranian government against peaceful protestors. In early 2009, the Iranian government banned international journalists from stopping coverage of the protests, but Fathi continued to report. In June 2009, other journalists were arrested by Iranian authorities. Fathi was placed under surveillance by the government, and threats were made against her life. In July 2009, she and her family left Iran for Canada. She subsequently became an associate at Harvard's Belfer Center, a

Nieman The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...

Fellow and a Shorenstein Fellow. Fathi's book ''The Lonely War'' was published by

Basic Books Basic Books is a book publisher founded in 1950 and located in New York, now an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history. H ...

in November 2014. Fathi also translated Nobel Laureate

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi ( fa, شيرين عبادى, Širin Ebādi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi wa ...

's book, ''The History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran''.

Bibliography

Nonfiction

* ''Lonely War: One Woman's Account of the Struggle for Modern Iran'' (2014)

Children's books

* ''My Name Is Cyrus'' (2020) * ''Avicenna: The Father of Modern Medicine'' (2020) * ''Razi: The Man Who Discovered How to Make Alcohol'' (2021) * ''The Persian Warrior and Her Queen'' (2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fathi, Nazila Writers from Tehran Iranian women journalists The New York Times journalists University of Toronto alumni Canadian women journalists 1970 births Living people Canadian women non-fiction writers People of the Iranian Revolution