Imprisoned Iranian Poet Mahvash Sabet's Memoir Speaks for the Silenced

Baha'i prisoner of conscience Mahvash Sabet's Open Wide the Doors launches in the U.S.,
one story from Iran representing all those that cannot be told

NEW YORK, Aug. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- At a time when the world sees Iran through the prism of war, a debut memoir written from inside the country's notorious prisons, presents a different picture. Rather than the despair the world has come to expect from Iran, it turns hardship into hope and humor, and suffering into faith and friendship. Open Wide the Doors: A Memoir of Faith, Hope and Freedom in Iran, by Iranian poet and prisoner of conscience Mahvash Sabet, published by Oneworld Publications, is now available in the U.S., translated by A. Mottahedeh and B. Nakhjavani.

This book, chronicling the first ten months of solitary confinement which Sabet endured for her persecuted faith, is not the story about one woman only. It is the untold tale of thousands, a voice speaking on behalf of the many voiceless. Sabet has written a memoir that bears witness to the fate of all Iranians held hostage in their country's prisons today.

"This book by Mahvash Sabet, a Baha'i prisoner of conscience in Iran, is a testament to the power of truth, to the fact that in our darkest times—times of brutality and indifference—we can still preserve our dignity, our humanity, and our belief in hope," said Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran.

In March 2008, the Intelligence Ministry of the Islamic Republic summoned Sabet for questioning. She told her husband she'd be home by evening. But she did not return for ten years. The pretext for her arrest was a dead man, who had been buried, according to the Ministry, in the wrong cemetery. But the corpse was just an excuse. Sabet was actually being accused of heresy and espionage and was threatened with death because of her Baha'i faith.

Open Wide the Doors is a tale of compassion, giving voice to the thieves, the prostitutes, and even the guards that Sabet befriends inside prison. It not only shows what breaks the human spirit, but how to resist oppression and revive. Instead of listening to those with something to gain from Iran, perhaps it is time to hear the voices of the people with nothing left to lose: women in the prisons, who encouraged each other to write, and whose words now reach us, miraculously, over the prison walls.

Sabet was first arrested in 2008 and condemned to ten years for her faith. In 2022 she was sentenced again to another decade, and today remains at grave risk and in precarious health. Her first collection of poetry, Prison Poems, was translated and published in 2013 and won her recognition as International Writer of Courage at the 2017 PEN Pinter Prize. She has also published Raha (More Prison Poems) and Hekaya-e Asheghi (Love Story) in Persian. Open Wide the Doors is her first book.

Open Wide the Doors: A Memoir of Faith, Hope and Freedom in Iran (Oneworld, distributed in the U.S. by Simon & Schuster; ISBN 978-1-83643-223-4) is available in the U.S. beginning August 18, 2026, in paperback ($22.95) and ebook ($12.99). It can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

For more information and press requests please contact Gaby Jerrard at [email protected].

SOURCE Oneworld Publications