The first international conference to commemorate the great Iranian poet Shahriar was inaugurated on September 17 in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province.
The opening ceremony of the 2-day event was addressed by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati.
Some local and foreign personalities in the field of culture and literature are attending the meet.
The conference secretariat has received more than 300 articles, 40 of which have been selected by the jury as the best works to be presented by their authors in the scientific section of the conference.
Shahriar was the most adroit bilingual poet who wrote in Azerbaijani and Persian languages.
Born in Tabriz, he was the first Iranian to write significant poetry in Turkish. His poems are mainly influenced by the great Persian poet Hafez. His most famous poem ‘Heydar-Babaya Salam’, published in 1954 in Turkish, is considered to be among the best modern poems in the language and has won immense affection of both Turkish and Farsi language speakers. It has been translated into more than 30 languages all over the world, especially in Turkish speaking countries.
His death anniversary is observed as the ‘national day of poetry and Literature’ in Iran.
