The Parvin Etesami Literary Award is a good opportunity to introduce Iranian women authors and help promote Persian literature, Vice-President and Head of the Center for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, said at the closing ceremony of the sixth edition of the event on Tuesday in Tehran.
Etesami (1907-1941) is the most celebrated Iranian poetess of the 20th century. Her poems had social, humanitarian, learning and mystical concepts. Her poetry followed classical Persian tradition in form and substance and she remained mostly unaffected by modernistic trends in Persian poetry.
Molaverdi described the poetess as “the portrayal of Iranian women’s ideology, who turned to modernity on the basis of tradition and femininity,” IRNA reported.
“Parvin invites people to morality and happiness in her poetry and encourages them to step in the path of justice.”
Abbas Salehi, cultural deputy at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, citing statistics from the Iran Book House, said, “In the past year (ended March 20) close to 3,000 women created literary works, fiction and poetry compared to the 4,500 works produced by men in the same period”.
It is clear that the gap between male and female writers in Iran has been reduced and “the feminine aspect added to Persian literature now reveals their hidden potentials.”
The event aims to promote women’s literary creativity, introduce female literary figures and researchers and honor women in the field of Persian language and literature.
Six Categories
The competition comprised six categories: fiction, poetry, drama, translation, children’s and research. In the fiction category, ‘A Thousand Knots’ by Maryam Ferdowsi was selected winner.
‘Mentionable Silence’ by Sudabeh Mohayeji and ‘Flowing from Venice’ by Pouneh Nikouy were awarded for poetry. ‘Ingrid Bergman with the Smell of Vegetable Stew’ by Haleh Moshtaqinia won the best drama award.
Two winners were selected in the translation category: ‘Night Train to Lisbon’ by Pascal Mercier, translated by Mahshid Mir-Moezzi and ‘Farewell, My Queen’ by Chantal Thomas, translated by Saeedeh Boqairi.
Four winners were announced in the children’s category: ‘Cave Tales’ by Marjan Keshavarzi, ‘Better than Free Chocolate’ by Sudabeh Qarzipour, ‘Me and the Exotic’ by Forouzandeh Khodaju and ‘Both Newspaper and Cookies’ by Maryam Hashempour.
‘Function of Ambiguity in Process of Text Reading’ by Forouq Sahba and ‘Theater Moving to Poetry’ by Talayeh Royayi won awards for best research.
