Category Archives: Iran

Persian Poetry Tuesday: Partow Nuriala's "I Am Human"

Shortly after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Partow Nuriala was forced by the government to stop teaching philosophy at Tehran University, where she also worked as a social worker. She subsequently founded Damavand Publications, one of the first independent woman-run … Continue reading

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Persian Poetry Tuesday: Forugh Farrokhzad's "Grief"

Forugh Farrokhzad was the most significant female Iranian poet of the twentieth century, corresponding most closely, in terms of American poetry, to Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Her poems are political, feminist, sexual, erotic, breaking almost every taboo that existed … Continue reading

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Persian Poetry Tuesday: Conversation in the Dark, by Nader Naderpour

Nader Naderpour was born in 1929 in Tehran. He studied literature at the Sorbonne in Paris during the 1950s and in Rome in the 1960s. He began publishing his poems in the 1940s and is counted among the leaders of … Continue reading

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Husband Murder on the Rise in Iran

Saba Vasefi is an Iranian women’s and children’s rights activist who is now living in Australia. Her documentary, Do Not Bury My Heart–for which I have not been able to find much information on the web–about the execution of minors … Continue reading

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Reza Aslan, Editor of "Tablet and Pen," on The Colbert Report

Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East, published by Norton, is a new anthology of (obviously) Middle Eastern literature. Here, the anthology’s editor, Reza Aslan, is interviewed on The Colbert Report. My favorite line is when Aslan … Continue reading

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Persian Arts Festival's Shab-e She'r Written Up on America.gov

Check it out: In a New York Bar, a Place for New Persian Poetry. Jeff Baron does a good job overall, though I think he makes me sound dismissive and trivializing about the traditional Shab-e She’r in the way that he … Continue reading

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Persian Poetry Tuesday: from Saadi’s Golestan

The best thing for an ignorant man is to be silent, and if he understands that, and practices it, he will no longer be ignorant. If the learning you possess is less than perfect, keep your tongue tucked safely in … Continue reading

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Persian Poetry Tuesday: A Quatrain by Rumi

If you don’t catch the scent, don’t walk down this lane. If you won’t undress, don’t enter this river. This is the source of all directions. Stay on your side, don’t come over here. –Translated by Iraj Anvar and Anne … Continue reading

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Went to See Maz Jobrani Last Night

I took my wife and my son for their birthdays, which are a day apart later this month, to see the Iranian-American comic Maz Jobrani last night at Town Hall. He is very talented and very funny. One of the … Continue reading

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Call for Papers: Investigating the Scope of Persian/Iranian Literatures

42nd Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) April 7-10, 2011 New Brunswick, NJ – Hyatt New Brunswick Host Institution: Rutgers University Keynote Speaker: Junot Diaz This panel welcomes papers on any aspect of Persian/Iranian literature, of any time period, … Continue reading

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