Welcome خوش آمدید
Art is a place of refuge for me, and the urge to create shelters and rescues me at once. It forms a space where I feel centered, at ease, and myself. I am a fiction writer as well as a poet. I express myself in words and colors, moving freely from one to the other, drawing inspiration from history, legends, mythology, and nature. Mythical characters, from time to time and freely, appear in my paintings and stories, while water, fire, and trees seem to be constant motifs.
Shirindokht Nourmanesh is a scholar, writer, translator, and visual artist working between Persian and English. She holds a Ph.D. in Transpersonal Psychology from Sofia University, an M.A. in Teaching with a TESOL emphasis from the University of Southern California, and graduate coursework toward an M.A. in English Literature from San José State University, where she also earned her B.A. in Philosophy. She began with an A.A. in Fine Arts and Design from Evergreen Valley College. Her doctoral research examined narrative, trauma, and post-traumatic growth among immigrant women, work that now runs underneath everything she creates.
She is the author of four books and the editor and translator of a fifth. Her poetry collection, Chalice of My Imagination, and her two short story compilations, Setarvan and Domal, are published in Persian and English. She served as editor and translator for The Third Script, a collection of stories from Iran, Tasmania, and the United Kingdom.
She has taught at San José State University, Northwestern Polytechnic University, and, as exchange faculty, at Sunlin College in South Korea, designing courses in career development, academic writing, art appreciation, multiculturalism in business, philosophy, ethics, and public speaking. Most recently, she worked as a special educator supporting high school students navigating significant barriers to their education. Across every classroom, her focus has been the same: helping students find their own voice and carry it forward with confidence.
Community work has run alongside her scholarship for two decades. She founded the Red Chair Writing Workshop, co-founded Gerdayesh for the academic study of the Shahnameh, and co-founded the Middle Eastern Heritage Month Celebration at San Jose City College. She curated the International Arts Exchange in San Jose, directed the Mountain View Reads Together program, and organized a literary reading in honor of imprisoned writers and journalists, to name but a few. In 2019, the Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations recognized this body of work with a Beacon of Light Award.
Her paintings have shown at the Gallery of Dreams, heART of Iran at the Capitol in Sacramento, the Saratoga Library, and Art with a Heart, among other venues, and she is a member artist at Gallery House in Palo Alto.
She is also the founder of Nourmanesh Studio, an independent practice spanning editorial and translation work, educational publishing, and the arts, and of Anahita Arts, where she leads workshops exploring creative practice as a tool for healing and narrative change.
Shirindokht Nourmanesh lives in San Francisco Bay Area.
