Golnaz Shams was born in Tehran. She holds a PhD in English literature. She taught English and German most of her life. Her research has been about Victorian literature and especially on theatre and drama. She is also interested in narratology, theatre studies, and literary theory. She used to stage plays in an amateur theatre group at the ÖKI (Österreichisches Kulturinstitut) in Tehran and also took some acting classes with the late renowned theatre director Hamid Samandarian.