The Tale of Two Nazanins with Nazanin Afshin-Jam
In Person Big Ideas
She pushed past the impossible and with persistence and passion confronted a lethal regime and changed the course of history for women. The Tale of the Two Nazanins is a powerful call to action. It's a book that could change your life— and perhaps save another
Join us for the remarkable story of two women named Nazanin—one a Canadian at the height of her career, the other a teenager on death row in Iran—and how one email changed their lives forever.
Nazanin Afshin-Jam was on top of the world. In 2006, she had just signed her first record deal and, after placing as first runner-up for Miss World, was a sought-after fashion model and icon within the Iranian dissident community. But one afternoon, she received an email that would change the course of her life. The subject of that email—a Kurdish girl named Nazanin Fatehi—was facing execution in Iran, as punishment for stabbing a man who had tried to rape her. Afshin-Jam quickly came to Fatehi's defence, striding into the world of international diplomacy and confronting the dark side of the country of her birth, with its honour killings, violence against women and state-sanctioned executions of children. While Fatehi languished in prison, experiencing conditions so deplorable she attempted to end her own life, Afshin-Jam worked desperately on the campaign to save her. The Tale of Two Nazanins weaves together the lives of two women—one leading a life of opportunity, the other living in abject poverty—and a fight for justice that, if only for a moment, brought the Iranian regime to its knees. An inspiring story about the bonds of sisterhood, this extraordinary book speaks to the power of every individual to foster positive change in the world.
