Author Guide · Journalism & Memoir
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Azadeh Moaveni was born in Palo Alto, California, in 1976 to Iranian parents who had left before the revolution. She first went to Iran in 1999 to cover a student uprising, then spent years in Tehran as a correspondent for Time. In 2007 she left the country with her husband and young son for London, after two years of meetings with a government minder. Her books follow her own path, from Iranian-American memoir to reporting on the women who joined the Islamic State, and now to the first ladies of the White House. This guide covers her five key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 5 key books · 2005–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Azadeh Moaveni has published five books: Lipstick Jihad (2005), Iran Awakening (2006, written with the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi), Honeymoon in Tehran (2009), Guest House for Young Widows (2019) and The East Wing (2026). Start with Guest House for Young Widows, shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize; read on for where the two Iran memoirs fit.
Where to Start with Azadeh Moaveni
If you want her most acclaimed book
→ Guest House for Young Widows (2019) — thirteen women who joined the Islamic State, and why.
If you want to understand young Iran
→ Lipstick Jihad (2005) — her debut, about growing up between two countries.
If you want a memoir of love under pressure
→ Honeymoon in Tehran (2009) — marriage, motherhood and a government minder in Tehran.
If you want the story of a Nobel laureate
→ Iran Awakening (2006) — Shirin Ebadi’s life, written with Moaveni.
5 Azadeh Moaveni Books, in Order
Lipstick Jihad
Moaveni grows up in California, where being Iranian carried a stigma after the 1979 hostage crisis, then moves to Tehran in 2000 as a reporter for Time. She writes about the “lost generation” that came of age after the revolution: the split between public and private life, parties, dating and the morality police. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times called her “a wonderfully acute observer”.
Iran Awakening
The life of Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told in her voice and written with Moaveni. It follows her from her years as a judge before the 1979 revolution, through her removal from the bench, to her work as a human-rights lawyer. It has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Honeymoon in Tehran
In spring 2005 Time sends Moaveni, then living in Beirut, back to Tehran ahead of the election that brings Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. She falls in love with Arash, a businessman, marries quickly and has a son, while a government minder she calls Mr X questions her about her work. In 2007 the family leaves Iran for London.
Guest House for Young Widows
Thirteen women from Tunisia, Germany, Britain and Syria who joined or lived under the Islamic State, among them Nour from Tunis, Emma and Lina from Germany, and the schoolgirls from Bethnal Green in London. The book moves between their lives from 2007 to 2017 and argues that state repression and Western policy shaped their choices. It was shortlisted for the 2019 Baillie Gifford Prize and the 2020 Rathbones Folio Prize, and longlisted for the 2020 Orwell Prize.
The East Wing
A history of America’s first ladies and their East Wing staff, from Eleanor Roosevelt’s press conferences for women reporters to Melania Trump, with portraits of staffers such as Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary. It ends with the 2025 demolition of the East Wing. St. Martin’s lists it for 20 October 2026; Kirkus Reviews gave it a starred review.
In What Order to Read Azadeh Moaveni
The two Iran memoirs belong together and work best in order: Lipstick Jihad covers her first stay in Tehran, from 2000, and Honeymoon in Tehran her second, from 2005 to 2007. Iran Awakening sits between them and gives the same country through the life of an older woman who stayed.
Guest House for Young Widows and The East Wing stand alone. Many readers start with Guest House and go back to the memoirs to see where her interest in women, the state and the press began.
A reading path
1. Guest House for Young Widows (2019)
2. Lipstick Jihad (2005)
3. Honeymoon in Tehran (2009)
4. Iran Awakening (2006)
5. The East Wing (2026)
The years · 1976–2026
Quick facts about Azadeh Moaveni
- Known for
- Moaveni is known for reporting from inside Iran and the Middle East on women’s lives under political pressure, most of all for her account of the women who joined the Islamic State.
- 1976
- Born in Palo Alto, California
- 2005
- Lipstick Jihad
- 2026
- The East Wing
- Born
- 1976, Palo Alto, California, to Iranian parents; grew up in Cupertino
- Education
- Politics and history at UC Santa Cruz; Fulbright fellow in Cairo
- Reporting
- Time in Tehran and the Middle East; Los Angeles Times in Baghdad
- Recognition
- Part of a New York Times team named Pulitzer Prize finalists in 2016
- Other work
- Directed the Gender and Conflict programme at the International Crisis Group
- Teaches
- Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University
The red mark is 2019: Guest House for Young Widows, her account of the women of the Islamic State.
How Azadeh Moaveni Writes: From the Inside
Moaveni writes from long stays rather than short trips. Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran come out of years of living in Tehran as a working correspondent, with an apartment, a social life and, in the second book, a husband, a child and a minder from the intelligence services.
Her method is to tell large political stories through a few women followed closely over years. In Guest House for Young Widows she stays with thirteen of them, from school and family life before ISIS to the camps and prisons afterwards, and places their decisions against the policing, surveillance and wars around them.
She keeps her own position visible. In the memoirs she is Iranian in America and American in Iran, and she says plainly where fear changed her reporting: in Honeymoon in Tehran she writes that she chose to put safety above the story.
Frequently asked questions about Azadeh Moaveni’s books
How many books has Azadeh Moaveni written?
Five: three under her own name about Iran and the Islamic State, Iran Awakening (2006) written with Shirin Ebadi, and The East Wing, due in October 2026.
What are Azadeh Moaveni’s books in order?
Lipstick Jihad (2005), Iran Awakening (2006, with Shirin Ebadi), Honeymoon in Tehran (2009), Guest House for Young Widows (2019) and The East Wing (2026).
Where should I start with Azadeh Moaveni?
Guest House for Young Widows (2019), her most acclaimed book. If you are more interested in Iran, start with Lipstick Jihad and follow it with Honeymoon in Tehran.
What is Azadeh Moaveni’s most famous book?
Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS (2019), shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize. Before that she was best known for Lipstick Jihad (2005).
Is Honeymoon in Tehran a sequel to Lipstick Jihad?
Yes, in effect. Lipstick Jihad covers her first stay in Tehran from 2000; Honeymoon in Tehran covers her return in 2005, her marriage, the birth of her son and the family’s departure for London in 2007.
Did Azadeh Moaveni write Iran Awakening?
She wrote it with Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. The book is Ebadi’s memoir, told in her voice.
Who are the women in Guest House for Young Widows?
Thirteen women from Tunisia, Germany, Britain and Syria, including Nour from Tunis, Emma and Lina from Germany, and the schoolgirls from Bethnal Green in London, among them Shamima Begum.
What is The East Wing about?
America’s first ladies and the women who worked for them, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Melania Trump, ending with the demolition of the East Wing in 2025. St. Martin’s lists it for 20 October 2026.
Has Azadeh Moaveni won a Pulitzer Prize?
No. In 2016 she was part of a New York Times team named Pulitzer Prize finalists in International Reporting for coverage of the Islamic State, including her 2015 front-page story on women who had fled it.
Where does Azadeh Moaveni live and work now?
She left Iran for London in 2007 and taught journalism at Kingston University from 2014. She is now Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University, where she directs the Global Journalism programme.
Footnotes
- Azadeh Moaveni — Wikipedia
- Lipstick Jihad — Kirkus Reviews
- Honeymoon in Tehran — Kirkus Reviews
- Guest House for Young Widows — Scribe
- The East Wing — Kirkus Reviews
- Interview on Guest House for Young Widows — NPR, 2019
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“There was no space for Nour in that Tunisia.”
— Azadeh Moaveni, on Guest House for Young Widows, NPR interview (2019)
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