Behind the Tall Walls: from Palace to Prison (ePub)

Azar Aryanpour was born to a prominent Iranian family of literary men and women. Graduating from high school in Tehran with highest honors, Ms. Aryanpour received a scholarship to continue her education abroad. She married a young physician, and together they left for the United States in 1957.

After studying English Literature at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio for two years, the author attended the University of Pennsylvania and completed her studies with a degree in education at the University of Akron, Ohio.

Back in Iran, Ms. Aryanpour taught children's literature and philosophy of education at the College of Shemiran and the National University. She also worked as a free-lance writer and translated both How Man Became a Giant and part of The Ascent of Man from English to Persian and received considerable acclaim for her command of both languages. Ms. Aryanpour is the compiler of several children's stories and a book of lyrics entitled Songs from Four Continents.

Disrupted from her work toward a Ph.D. degree in Persian literature at Tehran University in 1979 when the Iranian Revolution broke out, her husband, a former Minister of Health and Welfare, was wrongfully imprisoned and sentenced to life. Ms. Aryanpour managed to escape to the United States where her three children attended schools and started a new life.

The author returned to college and received her M.L.S. degree in Library Sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey, holding the position of librarian at the Center for Urban Policy Research. Ms. Aryanpour and her children have continued to live and work successfully in America.