Marina Nemat was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran. After the Islamic
Revolution of 1979,
she was arrested at the age of sixteen and spent
more than two years in Evin, a political
prison in Tehran, where she
was tortured and came very close to execution. She came to
Canada
in 1991 and has called it home ever since. Her memoir of her life in Iran,
Prisoner
of Tehran, was published in Canada by Penguin Canada in April
2007, has been published
in 28 other countries, and has been an international
bestseller. MacLean’s Magazine has
called it “…one of the finest (memoirs)
ever written by a Canadian.” Prisoner of Tehran has
been short listed for
many literary awards, including the Young Minds Award in the UK and
the
Borders Original Voices Award in the US. On December 15, 2007, Marina
received the
inaugural Human Dignity Award from the European Parliament,
and in October 2008, she
received the prestigious Grinzane Prize in Italy.
In 2008/2009, she was an Aurea Fellow at
University of Toronto’s Massey
College, where she wrote her second book, After Tehran: A
Life Reclaimed,
which was published by Penguin Canada on September 18, 2010, and has so
far been published in four countries. Marina has spoken at tens of high schools,
universities,
and conferences around the world.
The lovely and talented Crystal Loszchuk, a Canadian singer/songwriter, has dedicated one of her songs, "Lift your Voice," to Iran's political prisoners. It's beautiful and you can find it on itunes. I have pledged to donate 25 cents for every song sold to my favourite charitable organization, the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture.
Marina Nemat was born in 1965 in Tehran, Iran. After the Islamic 
Watch "The
Story of Dance in Iran" narrated (in Persian) by Marina's father 
