Long life to Sheherazade!

March is Women's History Month and, this year, also features your favorite holiday, Purim. Why not combine the celebrations with an appreciation of that sadly neglected heroine of the medieval Persians, Sheherazade? She was smart enough to survive a thousand nights plus one with that gynocidal king, Shahryar, so reminiscent of another Persian princess more than a millennium earlier.

Speaking of Persian princesses, even if you missed her graphic novels Persepolis and Persepolis 2, Marjane Satrapi's animated film version Persepolis is a must-see. And don't forget her older "sisters," Roya Hakakian and Azar Nafisi, respectively authors of Journey from the Land of No and Reading Lolita in Tehran.