Oneworld to publish Sepideh Gholian’s memoir of resistance and recipes

Oneworld has acquired Sepideh Gholian’s memoir, The Evin Prison Bakers’ Club: Surviving Iran’s Most Notorious Prison in 16 Recipes, translated from Persian by Hessam Ashrafi.

Non-fiction commissioning editor Rida Vaquas acquired world rights from Gholian’s literary representative Maziar Bahari, and will be publishing the book on 10th April 2025 as a paperback original.

The synopsis states: "Sepideh Gholian, in prison since 2018, bakes scones for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s daughter, a pumpkin pie for Nobel Peace Prize-winner Narges Mohammadi, madeleines for Marzieh Amiri, serving time for a May Day demonstration in 2019."

Vaquas commented: "To say that Gholian is courageous doesn’t do her justice. With humour in spades, and an infectious smile, Gholian indicts the Islamic Republic of Iran for all the injustices it perpetrates. The Evin Prison Bakers’ Club is a unique document of resistance and solidarity. Even tortured, beaten and humiliated, Sepideh and her compatriots do not, and will not bow to the demands of the regime, and even find a way to survive, through baking."

Gholian is an Iranian journalist and activist who is currently in Evin Prison. She was arrested on 18th November 2018 during a strike by the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Complex, and was tortured in detention. In 2023, a video of her removing her hijab and calling for the downfall of Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei went viral.