Born in Tehran, she witnessed the war between Iran and Iraq as an elementary school student. She came to Turkey in 1990 with her mother and sisters.
After high school, she studied sociology in Izmir, then she started to travel and was on every acre of land across the world where coffee is grown. She obtained her doctorate on Middle Eastern religions abroad. She traveled the Silk Road. Specializing on thematic and business trips, she also worked as a manager in hotel companies.
She published several articles on sociology, most of them in Iran; she translated Iranian literary works and films into Turkish.
Shahzadeh N. Igual writes novels that critics describe as multi-layered works, about Iran’s past and present, with autobiographical touches, telling stories of families or the Iranian society before and after the Islamic Revolution, making a powerful synthesis of the conjuncture of historical events with fiction. She also draws attention with her own poetry as well as poems by great Iranian and Turkish poets of the past and present in her text. Her first novel “Tahran’in Kirmizi Sirenleri” (The Red Sirens of Tehran) was published in 2017, her second novel “Rolls Royce’u Taramislar Baba” (They Shot at the Rolls-Royce, Daddy) in 2018 and her third novel “Isfahan’in Gozyaslari” (Tears of Isfahan) in 2021 by one of the most prestigious and powerful publishing houses in Turkey: Mona Kitap, subsidiary of the Alfa Yayinlari publishing group.
With her original concept “Iran, Yesterday and Today” – seminars on Iran’s past and present with its history, sociology, ethnography, traditions, heritage, literature as well as traveling in Iran – she is a requested speaker by academic institutions such as Istanbul, Akdeniz, Ege, Dicle and Pamukkale Universities, by clubs such as Rotary Club and Lions Club, associations and non-governmental organizations such as Türkiye Yazarlar Sendikasi (Union of Writers of Turkey ), Galatasaraylilar Dernegi, the Association of Istanbul Tourism Guides, also for events of major travel agencies such as Setur and Dünyanin Renkleri as well as institutions such as the French Institute of Turkey in Istanbul, Ayna Akademi and Ortak Yasami Gelistirme Vakfi, among others …
In 2018, she wrote and produced “A Thousand and One Nights in One Night”, a poetry and music show: an excellent selection of Persian poetry, sagas and tales, ancient and contemporary, performed by herself in Persian and in Turkish, with the musical participation of Hoom Blues Band from Iran and the renowned special guest, guitarist Akin Eldes from Turkey. The show was accompanied by a live painting session on stage by an Iranian painter and an exhibition by a celebrated Iranian photographer in the foyer.
She was decorated with a Prize of Honor by the Islamic Republic of Iran, for her efforts to help the Turkish intelligentsia get acquainted with Iran, she also received a certificate of honor from the Association of Iranian Businessmen and Industrialists in Turkey.
She continues to accompany distinguished cultural groups in Iran for renowned travel agencies, sharing the best of her native land with her travelers for whom she organizes literature and sociology seminars as well as exclusive travel events. She organized and guided the first Persian Literature Theme Tour in Iran, which has been continuing with great success since then. Her original concept of the expedition of “Meetings of Persian Art and Culture in Iran” took place between famous Turkish writers such as Nedim Gürsel, Ayşe Kulin, Tuna Kiremitçi and great Persian writers and poets such as Nahid Tabatabai, Ahmad Pouri, Shams Langeroudi and Sayyed Ali Saleh. The “Meetings” succeeded in attracting great attention from the literary and current affairs media of both countries. She led special tour groups with the collaboration of her great friend, the eminent Turkish historian, Professor Ilber Ortayli, former director of the Topkapi Palace Museum.
Married, she lives in Istanbul and Valencia in Spain, she is a member of the Turkish Writers’ Union and she is currently working on her fourth novel and many future concepts and projects.
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