At the prestigious 2023 Booker Prize ceremony held in Old Billingsgate, London, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a figure of resilience and hope, delivered a poignant speech. She recounted her harrowing experiences during her six-year imprisonment in Iran, stressing the transformative power of literature in the darkest of times.

The power of a banned book

The former English teacher shared an intriguing episode involving Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale“, a dystopian novel depicting the oppression of women under an authoritarian regime. This book, which found its way into the prison via post despite being banned in Iran, became a beacon of hope for Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her fellow inmates.

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She recalled, “One day a cellmate received a book through the post; it was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, translated into Farsi. Who thought a book banned in Iran could find its way to prison through the post?” The inmates went to great lengths to conceal it, wrapping the cover in newspapers to avoid detection by cameras.

Creating a secret library

The significance of “The Handmaid’s Tale” extended beyond its literary merit; it represented a form of silent resistance. Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her cellmates created a “secret library” in their ward, passing on this and other books to future inmates as a legacy of resilience and hope. She reflected, “When we left, we all bequeathed books to the secret library in the ward to keep our stories alive for others to come, just like those who left their books for us to survive.”

Solace in literature

During her speech, Zaghari-Ratcliffe also highlighted the solace she found in other books, like Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace“, which mentally transported her back to her life in London. She poignantly remarked, “Books helped me to take refuge into the world of others when I was incapable of making one of my own. They salvaged me by being one of the very few tools I had, together with imagination, to escape the Evin walls without physically moving.”

The Booker Prize and beyond

The Booker Prize event also celebrated Dublin author Paul Lynch, who won the award for “Prophet Song”, a narrative exploring the emergence of a secret police in Ireland. Meanwhile, Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments”, the sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale”, had previously clinched the Booker Prize in 2019.

A memoir of resilience

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s journey of endurance and hope is set to be chronicled in her upcoming memoir, “A Yard of Sky: A Story of Love, Resistance and Hope”, slated for release in September 2024. This work promises to delve into her ordeal in prison and her husband Richard’s relentless efforts to bring her home.

Read: Booker Prize 2023: Paul Lynch named winner for dystopian book

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s speech at the 2023 Booker Prize ceremony was not just a narration of her personal struggles, it was a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the transcendent power of literature. Not only is her story a compelling reminder of how books can be a source of strength and escape, even in the most trying circumstances, it is an important form of protest against authoritarianism.