Fariba Hachtroudi was born in 1951 in Tehran. She comes from a family of scholars and professors. Her paternal grand-father was a religious leader who supported the constitutionalists in 1906, against other religious leaders who advocated for governance by Sharia law and the absolute rule of God as a monarchic authority.

Fariba’s father Mohsen Hachtroudi was a learned scholar, often called the “Ommar Khayyam” of contemporary Iran. As a well known French-educated mathematician, philosopher and poet, Mr Hachtroudi was unquestionably considered to be a moral authority for generations of Iranians. Hachtroudi fought his entire life for the promotion of democracy, social justice (most notably women rights) and secularism. Fariba’s mother, Robab Hachtroudi was a professor of humanities and Persian literature.

Fariba Hachtroudi received her doctorate (PHD) in art and archeology in Paris in 1978.

She lived in Sri Lanka from 1981 to 1983, where for two years she taught at the University of Colombo while performing research on the Teravada Boudhism.

When Fariba returned to France in 1983, she started, as a journalist, to denounce Khomeynism.

In 1985 / 1986, to understand the daily life of her compatriots, Fariba travelled clandestinely to Iran by way of the desert of Baluchistan. L’exilée, Hachtroudi’s first book describes her haunting journey.

10 years later, in 1995, Fariba who was much more pessimistic than others, already predicting change and revival “slowly and from within Iran”, decided again to approach the issue by creating a humanitarian association free of political affiliations. MoHa, the association for the foundation of Mohsen Hachtroudi, focuses it work on education and secularism – conditions essential for the respects of women’s rights and the promotion of democracy. MoHa helped Iranians refugees wherever they were. After her last trip to Iran (2006) Fariba Hachtroudi hopes to be able to register her Foundation in Iran in order to help the youth inside the country as it was the goal of her father.

Here after the publications of Fariba :

L’exilée.
Novel. 1991. Payot.

Demain un Iran Laïque ?
1999. Revue Panoramique.

Iran, les Rives du Sang.
2000. Éditions du Seuil.
Crowned by the littérature price of human rights in october 2001. The price was presented to the author by the president of the French National Assembly, Mr. Raymond Forny, at a ceremony before the National Assembly.

Les femmes Iraniennes : 25 ans d’inquisition islamique.
Hydre Edition. 2004.

Le Chili sur les Traces de Neruda (with the photographer Laurent Péters),
Travel book. 2005. Seuil.

J’ai épousé Johnny à Notre Dame de Sion.
Novel. 2006. Seuil.

A mon Retour d’Iran.
Testimony. 2007. Seuil.

Khomeyni express.
Document. April 2009. Xenia.

Le douzième imam est une femme.
Novel. May 2009. Koutoubia

La gelée royale, Éditions Encre d’Orient, coll. « Littérature », 2010.
In the form of a bitter parody, it is a sharp criticism of the excesses and absurdities of the West.

Ali Khamenei ou les larmes de Dieu, Éditions Gallimard, coll. « Hors série Connaissance », 2011.
« Fariba Hachtroudi’s investigation is to be hailed as one of the most original and fruitful work of recent decades in understanding the mechanisms of power in Tehran. » Stéphane A. Dudoignon, CNRS.

Abysses, Poèmes avec les encres d’Anne Cotrel, Éditions Chèvre-feuille étoilée, coll. D’un art l’autre, octobre 2013.

The man who snapped his fingers (Le colonel et l’appât 455) (translated in Italian and in English) Éditions Albin Michel, 2014.

The man who snapped his fingers, Europa Edition New York 2016.
« This novel, full of conviction, strongly states the tragedy of dictatorships and the unpredictable power of human feelings. » Catherine Simon,  Le Monde des Livres

“This is one of those books that will stay with me and that I will think about for a long time to come.” Alison Anderson, Book Review.

Book of the month: “The book was The Man Who Snapped His Fingers, the English-language debut from French-Iranian author Fariba Hachtroudi (https://www.faribahachtroudi.fr/bio/uk. and it impressed me so much that when I finally got off that third flight, not only shaken by the journey but very much stirred by what I’d read, I knew that I wanted to tell you about it.” http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/2016/02/23/book-of-the-month-…

Ali, La Parole défendue, Éditions ErickBonnier en 2022.
“It is night in the mineral immensity of the Hejaz desert. We are in the year I of the Hegira (622). Mecca, hostile to Muhammad, chased the Prophet away with stones. Ali is, after him, on the road to exile to join his cousin and guide in Yathrib. »

To discover articles, books, interviews and interventions of Fariba Hachtroudi in the international media, find her on https://www.faribahachtroudi.fr