Shohreh Laici
Shohreh Laici is an Iranian memoirist, essayist, and literary translator recognized for her incisive analysis of the cultural intersections between Iran and the West.
She began her writing career in Iran, contributing essays to leading American journals that illuminated the influence of American postmodern literature on the emerging generation in the post-1979 Islamic Republic. She moved to the United States in February 2024 and now resides in Upstate New York.
Laici currently serves as the 2025–2027 Scholar in Exile at the University of Rochester Humanities Center, where she is completing her forthcoming memoir. During her residency, she delivers public seminars that investigate the interplay of landscape and memory in war-affected Tehran and examine fragmented narratives as a vehicle for creative resistance in memoir writing.
Her literary essays and civic nonfiction have appeared in distinguished publications including LitHub, The Millions, World Literature Today, The Brooklyn Rail, Michigan Quarterly Review, and Democracy in Exile (DAWN). Recognized for her sharp cultural analysis, her critical review of contemporary diaspora literature, titled “In Exile,” was officially featured and highlighted by the Institute for Ideas and Imagination at Columbia University.
As a translator, her work has been featured in Poetry Daily, Two Lines, Asheville Poetry Review, Everything Is Political, Ezra, and Statorec. Her long-form memoir essay, "The Language of the Enemy," was recognized as runner-up for the 2026 Terry Tempest Williams Prize by the North American Review. Laici’s journey from Iran to the United States is also documented in the 2026 film My Room in Tehran Was Called America, directed by Pirooz Kalayeh.