Iranian animation brings epics of Koroglu into limelight again
The common Iranian and Turkish epics of Koroglu is once again in the spotlight by the production of an animated film in Iran. Over 60 people have been working on "The Legend of Hero Roshan" since 2007 -Tehran Times - 3/15/10
The Lioness of Iran, Simin Behbahani, Banned From Leaving Country
Prominent Iranian writer and poet, Simin Behbahani was banned from leaving Iran today as she was leaving for Paris to participate in an event on the occasion of International Women's day. - 3/8/10
Guilty Conscience
The news was short: They were executed... Wrote the contemporary Iranian poet Houshang Ebtehaj so many years ago... with the echo of his words still resonating in Alborz Mountains! Before that, the pioneer of modern Iranian poetry Nima Yushij wrote: The memory of certain people keeps me enlightened! -Roya Monajem, Tehran - 3/1/10
A Newly Discovered Manuscript of the Shahnama in Lebanon
A new and important manuscript of the Shāhnāma, was discovered in 2005 in Beirut, Lebanon. The volume is generally in good shape, though it has suffered some water and insect damage. However, fortunately the damage to the actual text of the poem is quite negligible. -Mahmoud Omidsalar - 3/1/10
Second edition of Returning to Iran published
Early last summer, the photographer whose work appears on the cover of this book was attacked on the streets in Tehran. He escaped serious injury and arrest but his cameras, including the one that shot this picture, were confiscated. -Maryam Pirnazar - 2/28/10
Mahbod Seraji: Rooftops of Tehran
In today's guest post, Mahbod Seraji author of Rooftops of Tehran talks about his experience with Villanova University: "As a debut novelist, the selection of my book Rooftops of Tehran for Villanova University's One Book program was an amazing honor." -ReadingGroupGuides.com - 2/28/10
Special Gift for Norouz: The "Ancient Iran" Book
Payvand.com is pleased to announce the selection of the award winning children's book "Ancient Iran" by Massoume Price to be placed in city and school libraries across North America, or to be given as gifts this holiday season. - 2/25/10
Students at Rutgers University to read Persian war novel
The Persian novel on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war "Chess with the Doomsday Machine" has been introduced as a reference source at Rutgers University located in the American city of New Brunswick, New Jersey. - 2/20/10
PEN USA Dissident Poets: I AM NEDA
Please join us on February 16 when PEN USA and the Hammer Museum present an evening of poetry inspired by the events in Iran this past summer. In association with Iranian-American poet Sholeh Wolpe, author of "I Am Neda," we collected dozens of poems by prominent poets in support of those who speak out for freedom around the world. - 2/14/10
Merci Monsieur Gurdjieff
As an Iranian translator of Gurdjieff's teachings starting with Ouspensky's In Search of Miraculous (published four years ago), translating all of Gurdjieff's own books exactly in the way he instructs (all waiting to get the required official publication permit), while wandering in a kind of Nietzsche-ian no-where land under Islamic Republic (symbolizing any religious rule with certain nuances), ... -Roya Monajem, Tehran - 1/25/10
Omid's Shadow: A Novel
Two Iranian women are caught up in revolutions thirty years apart, but it is a third person-the one who connects them-that carries the scars of loss that time has not healed. Omid's Shadow tells the story of an Iranian-American woman, the daughter of one revolutionary and the mother of another. -by Hichkass Hamekass - 1/25/10
EXCERPT: ‘Forces of Fortune'
It all happened quickly. The Muslim world changed dramatically in the short thirty-two months that separated the Ayatollah Khomeini's return to Iran on February 1, 1979, and the assassination of Anwar Sadat in Cairo on October 6, 1981. -Vali Nasr - 1/23/10
Some literary awards in Iran are financed by U.S.: cultural official
Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs Mohsen Parviz said that some literary awards in Iran are financed by the U.S. -MNA - 1/8/10
Poem: A New Year Resolution For Iran
Why is it that absolute power of the monarchs, the hierarchs, or the autocrats, --- leads to greedy corruption and ostentatious oppression? --- When the inept emperor rationalizes his crimes, --- especially masqueraded with godly disguise. -Pirouz Azadi - 1/4/10
The Persians: A Great Book For The Holidays
Once in a while one gets hold of a book that tells it all and one cannot put it down and despite the weary days and tired eyes one keeps reading it through to the end. I received what I consider the best read of the year in December and wish to share it with all of you: The Persians – Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Dr. Homa Katouzian -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 12/24/09
THE PERSIANS: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran
In recent years, Iran has gained attention mostly for negative reasons - for its authoritarian religious government, disputed nuclear program, and controversial role in the Middle East - but there is much more to the story of this ancient land than can be gleaned from the news. This authoritative and comprehensive history of Iran, written by Homa Katouzian, an acclaimed expert, covers the entire history of the area from the foundation of the ancient Persian Empire to today's Iranian state. - 12/16/09
Homa Sabet Tavangar's "Growing Up Global" named "Best New Parenting Book" by Scholastic Magazine
Homa Sabet Tavangar, an Iranian-American mother of 3 living near Philadelphia, has received wide recognition for her book Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be At Home in the World (Random House, 2009). Tavangar's book has been named "Best New Parenting Book" by Scholastic Magazine (recognized leader in the area of parents and schools). Global Giving, the eBay of philanthropy, partners with Growing Up Global for its holiday promotion - 12/15/09
We Are All Iran: A Literary Reading to Mark the 6-Month Anniversary of the Iranian Elections
Bay Area writers from the Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) will share their literary work at a reading at the San Francisco Public Library's Koret Auditorium on Saturday, December 12, 2009 from 2-4:00 pm. The event will bear witness to the extraordinary courage of the Iranian people on the six-month anniversary of the contested elections, which took place on June 12, 2009. - 12/5/09
Celebrating Iranian Women Poets
December's Shab-e She'r (Poetry Night) in New York will celebrate Iranian Women Writers on December 9 from 6-7:30pm. This special evening will feature Farnoosh Fathi and Soraya Shalforoosh! - 12/3/09
Iran's writers' associations to pay homage to assassinated colleagues
Iran's writers' associations will be paying homage to Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh, on the 11th anniversary of death of these writers, by holding a gathering on Friday December 4th at Emamzadeh Taher cemetery at Mehrshahr in Karaj. The two writers were killed 11 years ago in what has been dubbed as "serial murders" by Iran's Intelligence Ministry agents as part of a plot to eliminate intellectuals and political personalities. - 12/2/09
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam at the British Library
To mark the 150th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald's publication of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the British Library is exhibiting a wide selection of richly illustrated editions of the poem, together with fascinating background information on its long history. - 11/30/09
Goli Taraghi Awarded Bita Prize for Literature and Freedom
Born in Tehran, Taraghi is one of contemporary Iran's most eminent writers and essayists, as well as a remarkable story teller in the tradition of Iran's Shahrzads. She began her career with a collection of short stories entitled I Am Che Guevara, and has since authored many other books including Winter Sleep, In Another Place and Scattered Memories. - 11/29/09
Mehdi Sahabi (1943-2009): A Translator and an Artist
Mehdi Sahabi was born in 1943 in Ghazvin and died last week in Paris. He was buried last Thursday at the artists plot in Beheshte Zahra. Many well known art and literary figures were present for his funeral. He was one of Iran's best known and respected translators and usually translated from French but also from Italian and English. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 11/21/09
Iranian translator Mehdi Sahabi dies at 66
The Iranian writer, painter and translator Mehdi Sahabi died of heart attack in Paris on Monday. He was 66. - 11/10/09
Morteza Baharloo, Noted Iranian American Author, Joins The Board Of The Asian American Writers' Workshop
The Asian American Writers' Workshop, one of the most prominent Asian American groups in the country, announced the confirmation of Morteza Baharloo to the Workshop board. Baharloo is the author of the novel The Quince Seed Potion and is the first Iranian American to join the Workshop's board. - 11/10/09
Iranian Publishers Hit by Government Curbs
Even the Tehran International Book Fair, one of the country's most important cultural events, was not impervious to the election buzz. The fair, which took place about a month before the elections, became a venue for criticism of Ahmadinejad's cultural policies. Renowned writers and publishers complained in interviews about the difficulty of obtaining publishing permits. They said that permission had been revoked for many books that had previously been allowed. -Pedram Fathi, Tehran - 11/7/09
MTV-U's Poet Laureate: Simin Behbahani
MTV (Music Television) "University" has selected Simin Behbahani, "the poet who never sold her soul or her pen," to be its second poet laureate. For a visually challenged 82-years-young Iranian, how cool is that? Beginning Monday, Nov. 2nd Behbahani's poems will be featured on MTV-U in a series of 19 short films. -Scott Harrop - 11/4/09
Book: Angella Nazarian's "Life As a Visitor"
In Life as a Visitor, Nazarian and her family travel to nearly twenty exotic locales, and it is during these travels that Nazarian begins to piece together her experiences of leaving Iran and adjusting to America and its western culture, and finding peace and herself along the way. - 10/12/09
Friday (Sunday) Nights
Trying to deal with a heavy Friday (having the same air as Sundays in the West), quite expectable considering what has been going on in the past few months, so quiet that even the park nearby appears to be almost vacant compared to other Friday nights, judging from the number of cars passing by, as though it is already over midnight, I appealed to the Oracle of Hafez, as it is a tradition among Iranians, and this was the answer -Roya Monajem, Tehran - 10/5/09
Samira Rekabdar's Silent Voice
When I arrived home, I had a special feeling. I opened the book quickly and started reading. The first page was a short history about Samira's life. It was then that I found out why she couldn't talk to me. Since she was inflicted with Cerebral Paralysis from childhood. Then I got to her beautiful poems. -Minoo Minaie, Tehran - 10/2/09
One hundred Iranian poets in support of protesters
One hundred Iranian poets have boycotted all government literary awards to protest the oppression of their people's movement toward "peace and democracy" in the post-election events. - 9/22/09
Iranian Literary Icon Shafiei Kadkani to join Princeton University
Shafiei Kadkani is a professor of literature at the University of Tehran and is renowned for his work on literary criticism and modern Persian poetry. According to mowjcamp.com web site, however, Shafiei Kadkani has left Iran for good and has decided to live in the US. No reason has been given for the decision. - 9/10/09
My Prison, My Home: One Woman's Story of Captivity in Iran
My Prison, My Home is the harrowing true story of Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari's arrest on false charges and subsequent incarceration in Evin Prison, the most notorious penitentiary in Ahmadinejad's Iran. - 9/6/09
Short Story: Van Gogh's Cousin
I turned off the vacuum cleaner, lay down spread eagled on the ground and took a deep breath. I had been running like a dog since early morning to get the house clean. Nazanine picked up the plate of cheese puffs that was in front of Nima and ran into the kitchen with it leaving an orange trail of crumbs behind her. -Farideh Khorrami - 9/1/09
Forough Farrokhzad's anthology published in Kuwait
Arabic version of anthology of Forough Farrokhzad, noted Iranian poetess, was published for the first time in Kuwait - 8/31/09
Mahbod Seraji: Thank You, My Friend
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji was a recent Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. Set in Iran in the 1970s, as the country is on the verge of revolution, it's a story about growing up, discovering love and awakening to the reality of a new way of life. I was especially taken with the vivid characters, engaging descriptions of time and place and the excellent pacing of the story. -ReadingGroupGuides - 8/26/09
Book: Returning to Iran
Thirty years after its revolution Iran continues to baffle the world. As changes within Iran and improved relations with the west become distinct possibilities, the experiences of the years since the revolution gain in relevance and significance. Returning to Iran, published on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, reflects on these years while placing them in a greater historical context. - 8/4/09
Short Story: Pliers
Yes, in that interview you said that since you don't write of a tree or a valley as it really exists so your tree or your valley is actually giving the finger to the real tree or valley and that that's what sets them straight. You believe, and now I'm quoting, that your trees and valleys are your way of slighting them. -Shahram Sheydayi - 7/31/09
Bay Area Writers To Raise Voices, Funds for People of Iran
The Association of Iranian American Writers (AIAW) will host a literary reading and musical performance on Sunday, July 26 to express solidarity with the people of Iran, whose protest over the June elections has captured the hearts and imagination of the world. - 7/9/09
In memory of a girl who loved music and singing
She was a young woman, called Neda -- Known only to her family and close friends -- Her calling came one sunny day near her home. -- Now the whole worldknows herby her beautiful eyes --- That looks through blood, courage, innocence and death. -Amir Fardi - 6/29/09
Poem: This is the Time
Fallen stars! We deeply mourn you. Who made your fate? -- Jackals, jackals. -Mali Mostoufi, New York - 6/28/09
A Poem: Salvation
I am asleep, Quietly. I dream: With no words, No pictures. A rabid bearded wolf, Sitting on my chest -Mali Mostoufi, New York - 6/23/09
Book: Censoring an Iranian Love Story
From one of Iran's most acclaimed and controversial contemporary writers, his first novel to appear in Englisha dazzlingly inventive work of fiction that opens a revelatory window onto what it's like to live, to love, and to be an artist in today's Iran. - 6/1/09
Short Story: What a Shovel Could Have Done
It all started one night when I suddenly woke up and realized that I was feeling really well. I felt so good that I was shaking hands with everyone. I have no idea where all those imaginary people whom I was shaking hands with had come from. -Shahram Sheydayi - 5/19/09
Happy Khayyam Day
May 18 marks the birthday of the great Iranian poet, astronomer, and mathematician Omar Khayyam (1048-1131). Iranians annually celebrate the occasion as Khayyam Day. - 5/17/09
Photos: Ferdowsi Day Celebrations in Tous, Iran
Iranians across the country have celebrated the national day of the highly revered Iranian epic poet Ferdowsi on May 15. Also, a special program was held at the tomb of Ferdowsi in the city of Tous. - 5/16/09
Book: Rooftops of Tehran
This stunning literary debut (by Mahbod Seraji) paints a vivid portrait of growing up, discovering love, and awakening to the reality of life in a nation on the verge of revolution in the 1970s. Rooftops of Tehran opens in a middle-class neighborhood in Iran's sprawling capital city. - 5/16/09
WAR STORIES: A Letter to the Saad Family
The first finder or finders of this letter are kindly requested to deliver its contents in any way possible to the family of "Saad Abd al-Jabbar," a member of the 23rd Battalion of the Special Republican Guard Forces of Iraq; the letter is from the forces under control of the Third Army of Basra. -Habib Ahmadzadeh, Tehran - 5/15/09
A Vanishing Breed, Iranian Satirist Pokes Fun From Exile
Ebrahim Nabavi is a diminutive man with an oversized sense of humor -- and a sarcastic wit that has twice landed him in jail. Through his writings, Nabavi gleefully sheds light on what he regards as some of Iran's paradoxes. - 5/14/09
Filmmaker Shirin Neshat Brings Acclaimed Iranian Novel to Screen
"The deep green garden, its walls plastered with mud, faced the river with the village behind it." This is the opening line to Women Without Men, Shahrnush Parsipur's highly praised and controversial 1989 novel of five women from very different backgrounds and experiences who find freedom and refuge physical, psychological and spiritual in a mystical garden outside Tehran. - 5/13/09
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