“Each story in Divided Loyalties is like a new window into Iran’s complex post-revolutionary history, its hardships as well as its beauties, its griefs as well as its unwavering will to survive. A touching, fascinating read.”
—Sahar Delijani, author of Children of the Jacaranda Tree
“Shidmehr narrates the lives of her characters with as much fluid intensity and grace as they are lived.”
– Musharraf Ali Farooqi, author of Between Clay and Dust and The Story of a Widow
“Nilofar Shidmehr is a master storyteller. Divided Loyalties shows girls and women at the intersection of place and time during pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. Each of these carefully examined lives is a fierce flame that will startle and burn in the memory long after you’ve finished this book.”
— Maureen Medved, author of Black Star
“Divided Loyalties weaves rich and complex stories spanning decades of Iran’s contemporary history and provides an intimate glimpse of lives scattered across different worlds. The stories of the characters in these pages speak to the universal experience of love, loss, and longing.”
— Payam Akhavan, author of In Search of a Better World
“A stunningly intimate portrait of the lives of Iranian women. Tenderly observed and hauntingly portrayed, Nilofar Shidmehr’s stories of love, loss, and exile shine with a rare grace.”
– Ausma Zehanat Khan, author of Among the Ruins
“Iran is a complicated country with thousands of years of history. In Divided Loyalties, with a deft hand, Nilofar Shidmehr takes us through the suffering of its people over the last four decades. An important book that sheds light on how a people can survive their darkest years.”
–Marina Nemat, author of Prisoner of Tehran
“These complex and intimate stories of Iranian women are like nothing I’ve ever read before. Nilofar Shidmehr’s perspective is wise, unique and compelling.”
–Farzana Doctor, author of All Inclusive
“Shidmehr’s intimate tone adds a special poignancy to these stories of women harbouring secrets.”
— Rabindranath Maharaj, author of The Amazing Absorbing Boy
“In bold and uncompromising prose, Shidmehr’s stories move between Iran and Canada, and compel us to reflect on complex issues of class, gender, and racial inequities.”
— Nima Naghibi, author of Women Write Iran: Nostalgia and Human Rights from the Diaspora
“Nilofar Shidmehr’s collection of short stories is accurately titled. The divided loyalties that torment these Persian women, whether they are still living in Iran or have emigrated to Canada, is her painful subject matter, and Shidmehr examines every nuance of it in fiction that is fierce, meticulously observed, beautifully crafted, and authoritative. A stunning work.”
–Keith Maillard, author of Gloria and Twin Studies
“Nilofar Shidmehr offers to readers deep stories of complex Iranian women characters. They are compassionate, strong and determined. This is a beautifully written collection with poetic language.”
— Monia Mazigh, author of Hope Has Two Daughters
Book Nominations / Shortlisted Manuscripts / Stories:
Shirin and Salt Man (Book) Nominated for a Dorothy Livesay Award (BC Book Prize 2009)
“Green Intervals” (Manuscript) Shortlisted for the 2017 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest
“Divided Loyalties” (Short Story) Shortlisted for the 2016 Summer Literary Contests
Writer-in-Residence Positions:
At the City of Richmond (October 2017 – November 2017)
At Regina Public Library (September 2015-May 2016)
Literary Contest Judge / Jury / Reader Positions:
Judge for the 2016 West End Writers Group Contest
Judge for the 2015 Saskatchewan Poetry Society Open Theme Contest
Reader for the 2015 CBC Poetry Prize
Juror for the 2015 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers
