Shahnameh-khani, also romanized Shahnama-khwani (), is a specialized form of naqqali (the traditional Iranian art of dramatic storytelling), consisting of the public recitation of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. These performances are typically delivered by naqqals (professional storytellers who recite the Shahnameh as well as other Iranian folktales and mythologies). Naqqals who specialize in the recitation of the Shahnameh are known as Shahnameh-khans or Shahnama-khwans.
Shahnameh-khani has been described as "an art form altogether different from drama and film, in which the reciting performer only narrates the myth and does not impersonate it." It ranks among "the most popular forms of epic and heroic story-telling" in Iran.
The tradition of Shahnameh-khani has been practiced for centuries in the cities and villages of Iran. According to Anthony Shay, sacred Iranian performative practices such as rowzeh-khani and ta'ziyeh "have direct roots to the related and corresponding non-sacred practices of shah-nameh-khani, naqqali, and siyah-bazi theatre."
In response to Roy Mottahedeh and other scholars' claim that Iranian identity may have been limited to educated elites in earlier historical periods, Anthony Shay has suggested, in contrast, that the long-standing traditions of naqqali and Shahnameh-khani indicate that this identity was more widely shared, "among several classes of the urban milieu at least, if not the peasantry".
A similar yet distinct form of this tradition exists in Kurdistan with oral performances of the Kurdish Shahnameh which contains only parts of Ferdowsi's work alongside original stories.