Photograph of Shadab Vajdi, member of the Iranian Centre in Exile. Vajdi was born in Shiraz and began writing poetry from a young age. She studied Persian Literature and Social Sciences at the University of Tehran, and obtained a PhD in Linguistics at the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies) in 1976. Whilst in Iran, Vajdi taught Persian literature, and in Britain she worked as a producer and broadcaster for the BBC World Service (Persian Section). Since 1992 Vajdi has been a part-time lecturer in Persian Language and Literature at SOAS University of London. Her poetry has been published in Persian, English, German and Swedish, and in 1992 an English collection of her works was published by Forest Books under the title Closed Circuit.