First Iranian Woman Playwright to Be Honored

The first Iranian woman playwright will be honored at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Mahmoud Ostad Mohammad Award at City Theater in Tehran on January 7, 2017.

Farideh Farjam, 77, was the first woman in Iran who started writing plays as well as short stories in the 1950s, and she will be honored for her contribution to Iranian theater, ISNA reported.

Born in Tehran, Farjam studied French language and literature in France. Before that she wrote several short stories which were published in the magazines of the time, and then as a university student she penned her first plays.

After returning to Tehran, she started cooperating with Children’s Book Council and continued writing stories and plays mostly for children.

In 1970, she returned to France and later moved to the Netherlands. During her years abroad, the plays she wrote were performed in Dutch and English on stage. Farjam also made some movies based on her own scripts and they were screened in several festivals.

In 2014 she returned to Iran and was warmly welcomed by the artists and art fans. A collection of some of her plays was republished last year in Iran after  over 50 years.

The award ceremony, named after the well-known Iranian playwright and stage director Ostad Mohammad (1950-2013), will recognize the best Iranian playwrights in two categories of original and adapted plays.

The plays published or staged in the past year are to be evaluated by the jury and the best will be awarded at the closing ceremony.