After returning to Iran in the mid-1960s, Lily Golestan briefly worked as a textile designer at the Moghadam Textile Factories. In 1966, she joined the newly established National Iranian Television as a costume designer. Her creativity and discipline quickly led to her appointment as director of children’s and youth programming.
During this period, she met television camerawoman Nemat Haghighi. They married in July 1968. Eleven months later, their son Mani was born, followed three years later by twins Sanam and Mahmoud. Their marriage lasted six years and ended in divorce. After the separation, the children remained with their mother.
Turning Toward Translation and Literature
After leaving television, Lily Golestan fully dedicated herself to writing and translation. This decision marked one of the most important turning points in her life. Translation became not only her profession, but also her most powerful mode of cultural resistance and intellectual self-definition.
Her breakthrough came with the Persian translation of Life, War and Nothing by Oriana Fallaci. The book’s confrontational style, political intensity, and emotional honesty resonated deeply with Iranian readers and established Golestan as one of the most important literary translators in Iran.
