Sepideh Gholian

Sepideh Gholian is an Iranian journalist, labour rights activist, and writer whose courage in speaking out against injustice has made her one of the most prominent political prisoners in Iran. Her book The Evin Prison Bakers' Club is a powerful, defiant account of her experiences inside Evin Prison, Tehran's most notorious detention facility, where political prisoners, journalists, and activists are held alongside common criminals in conditions that have been widely condemned by international human rights organisations. Gholian was arrested for her reporting on workers' strikes and her advocacy for labour rights, and her imprisonment became a cause célèbre among press freedom and human rights organisations worldwide. Her writing transforms the grim reality of political imprisonment into a testament to human resilience, solidarity, and the unbreakable spirit of people who refuse to be silenced. The book's title refers to the community and small acts of resistance that prisoners create even within the most oppressive conditions, finding dignity and connection in shared experiences as simple as baking bread together. Gholian's account is both a personal memoir and a document of political significance, bearing witness to the human cost of authoritarianism and the courage of those who resist it. The Evin Prison Bakers' Club is available as an audiobook, offering listeners a powerful, moving testimony from one of the bravest voices in contemporary journalism.