Iranian exile novel shortlisted for International Booker Prize
Shida Bazyar’s “The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran,” a novel tracing one Iranian family across four decades of revolution, exile and resistance, is among six books shortlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize.
The novel, translated from German by Ruth Martin, begins after Iran’s 1979 revolution and follows different family members, including a revolutionary father, a literature-loving mother, a daughter visiting Iran for the first time and a son drawn into politics by the 2009 Green Movement.
Prize organizers described the book as a moving novel about oppression, resistance and the desire for freedom.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to a book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.
“Taiwan Travelogue” by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King, won the 2026 International Booker Prize.
The other shortlisted books were “She Who Remains” by Rene Karabash, “The Witch” by Marie NDiaye, “On Earth As It Is Beneath” by Ana Paula Maia, and “The Director” by Daniel Kehlmann.
