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Shohreh Laici is an Iranian memoirist, essayist, and literary translator whose work explores the geopolitical and cultural crosscurrents between Iran and the West. She is the 2025–2027 Scholar in Exile at the University of Rochester Humanities Center, where she is completing her forthcoming memoir. Her long-form essay, "The Language of the Enemy," was named the runner-up for the 2026 Terry Tempest Williams Prize by the North American Review.

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She began her career writing from within Iran for leading American literary journals, tracing the impact of American postmodern literature on the young generation in post-1979 Islamic Revolution Iran. Laici’s creative nonfiction has appeared in elite literary venues including LitHub, The Millions, World Literature Today, The Brooklyn Rail, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Democracy in Exile (DAWN MENA). As a translator, her work has been featured in Poetry Daily, Two Lines, and other journals. Recognized for her incisive cultural criticism, her work has been highlighted by the Institute for Ideas and Imagination at Columbia University. Following her move to the United States in 2024, her journey from Iran is documented in the 2026 film My Room in Tehran Was Called America directed by Pirooz Kalayeh. 

© Shohreh Laici 2026

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