The Islamic Regime took power in 1979 and at this moment Nasrin became a civil rights activist. In 1982 she was arrested and experienced regular, horrific torture during her eight years in prison.
She fled to the UK in 1993 and lives in London as a refugee. She has since become an author and artist with award winning books that have been translated into multiple languages. Her work largely deals with the effects of torture and separation in a writing style that is uniquely harrowing and personal. Most recently she spoke about her experiences at a TEDx event in April 2025. Nasrin has delivered talks on Iranian human rights violations in both Farsi and English in multiple countries.
The books she has authored include ‘One Woman’s Struggle in Iran, A Prison Memoir’ (Award-Winner in the Women’s Issues category of the 2019 International Book Awards), and ‘The Secret Letters from X to A’, (Victoria Press 2018). Her prison memoir has also been published in Spanish, German and Turkish. Her novel, ‘The Secret Letters from X to A’ will be published in Turkish by Aram Yayinevi in 2025. Her newest novel, ‘Coffee’, was long-listed for The Bath Novel Award in 2023.
Nasrin’s poems and short stories have been published in several anthologies, including “Songs of Freedom – A poetry Anthology by Ten Iranian and Afghan Women Poets” (Afsana Press, 2024).
Her works have appeared in major publications such as The Guardian, The Morning star, LBC and Huck magazine among others.
She has also translated poems from Farsi into English that were then published by “Modern Poetry in Translation” and other anthologies. Nasrin has also published a novel in Farsi about the 1988 massacre of prisoners in Iran to which she was an eye-witness.
Nasrin’s paintings have been accepted for inclusion in exhibitions at many galleries, including Sotheby’s and OXO Tower Wharf.
Nasrin studied for a degree in Psychology and subsequently gained an MA in International Relations. She then completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Systemic Theory at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where she worked in a team of family therapists.
Nasrin is a member of Exiled Writers Ink (EWI), and the Society of Authors (SOA).