Shirin

SHIRIN by Taqi Bakhtyari (Palaver 2026) moves between Afghanistan and suburban Sydney to follow a Hazara refugee as she navigates one decisive year from a childhood marked by the violent imposition of silence to a young womanhood of intense personal and social upheavals and possibilities. SHIRIN's protagonist, 'Aghai', has a defiant goal to memorialise her friend Shirin by going back to inscribe her name on an otherwise anonymous tombstone. With stark images, the novel bears witness to massacre and expulsion from home, and the enduring trauma of refugees long after they reach places of supposed safety. Aghai finds strength and in her own inner resources, in the wisdom of poet Omar Khayyam and in her bond with Kylie, a new friend who reflects both the present of Australia, its imperfect multiculturalism and echoes of a traumatic past.