Introduction Tāhirah Saffārzādah (1938–2008) stands as a distinctive and transformative figure in modern Persian literature. Known for her revolutionary and religious poetry, she has often been categorized as a poet of ideology and resistance. Yet…

Malakah Iꜥtizādī (1306–1367/1928–1989),1She was born to Muhammad Bāqir Iꜥtizādī, also known as Afkhām al-Saltanah. Her mother’s name was Aqdas al-Muluk Amīr Yaʿqūbī. Uvays, Ilāhah and Parnīʾān were her siblings. Also, in the endnotes added to…

Introduction There is no definitive information regarding the birth and death dates of Mahsatī Ganjavī. ꜥAwfī’s Lubāb al-albāb (The quintessence of hearts), the earliest anthology (tazkirah) of Persian poets, makes no mention her, nor of…

Introduction Over the past century, modern Iranian poetry has witnessed various poetic movements, some of which were short-lived and gave way to other poetic trends. A significant distinguishing feature of modern Persian poetry, in contrast…

Introduction The Mongol invasion of Iran in the thirteenth century brought an end to the rule of the Khwarazmʹshahiyan dynasty, the central government of the time. Insecurity, famine, and widespread massacre engulfed the entire country….

Introduction The historical dominance of patriarchy in Iran has long marginalized women poets, contributing to the exclusion of many from the classical literary canon. However, with the growing advocacy for modernism from the late Qajar…

Qudsiyah Ihtishāmī, born Habībah Baygum (AH 1320–1402/1288–1360/1902–1981), was the daughter of a certain ꜥAlī -Muhammad. While information about her early life and family remains scarce, her husband, ꜥAlī Akbar Ihtishāmī, has a more extensively documented…

Introduction Shams-i Kasmāyī is a prominent figure in contemporary Persian poetry; however, her poetic language and thought have not received considerable attention, for various reasons. Although her ancestry can be traced back to Gilan and…

Sipīdah Judayrī (b. 1355/1976) is an Iranian poet, literary critic, and translator whose body of work includes eight poetry collections, a short story collection, and an anthology of her poems. This entry offers a contextualizing…

Figure 1: Zhīlā Musāʿid in her early forties, in Mīrzā Āqā ʿAskarī, “Rābitah-am bā jahān az tarīq-i kalimāt Ast” [My relationship with the world is through words], Muhājir 8, no. 70 (Ābān 1370/ November 1991):…

Zhālah Qāʾim-Maqāmī and the Omission of the Audience in Favour of Feminine Poetry ʿĀlam-Tāj Qāʾim Maqāmī, who wrote under the penname “Zhālah,” is one of the most important contemporary women poets, and arguably the pioneer…

Introduction Maymanat Zulqadr (Mīrsādiqī) (b. 1316/1937) is a prominent and well-known contemporary poet. For a period in her career, she published her poems under the pseudonyms ‘Āzādah’ and ‘Ānāhīt.’1The author wishes to express gratitude to…

Introduction Shukūh Qāsimniyā, whose original name is Fātimah Hamadānī Qāsimniyā, is an Iranian author of children’s fiction and poetry who has been actively engaged in a wide range of creative endeavours, including poetry, fiction, adaptations…

I am what is around me.‎ Women understand this.‎ Wallace Stevens, ‎ ‎“Theory” 1917‎   Introduction In the reading of hermetic texts, two streams emerge roughly in parallel: hermetic…

Introduction Nūrī Sayyārah Gīlānī (1286–1353/1907–1974) was a relatively little-known poet in the Iranian intellectual and literary sphere. Two principal factors have contributed to the limited attention her works have received: first, her poems were not…

Introduction In the realm of feminist Persian poetry, certain names are frequently encountered, including Tāhirah Qurrat al-‘Ayn (AH 1230–1268/1817–1852), Zandukht Shīrāzī (1288–1331/1909–1953), Simin Behbahani (1306–1393/1927–2014), Forough Farrokhzad (1313–1345/1934–1967), and, more recently, Zhālih ‘Ālamtāj Qā’im-Maqāmī (1262–1326/1883–1947)….

Introduction During the 1960s and 1970s, female poets relied heavily on translation to establish connections with one another. The primary objective of the first and second-wave feminism in translation was to articulate connections between female…

Nūr Jahān Baygum was one of the beloved and powerful wives of Nūr al-Dīn Jahāngīr (1569–1627), the Mughal emperor of India, and the first lady of his harem. Her date of birth is recorded as…

Introduction This article analyzes the deployment of multiple genres, or poly-generic capacity, and particularly the use of narrative games as a rhetorical device and figure of poetic language in Līmah Āfshīd’s poetry to illustrate the…

Persian avant-garde poetry stands as a cultural phenomenon characterized by its dual pursuit of aesthetic revolution and defiance against prevailing sociopolitical and cultural norms. Central to understanding this movement is the recognition of its roots…

Introduction This article has two objectives. It casts a look at the life and creative contributions of the Tajik poetess Gulrukhsor Safieva, as well as shows how Safieva, in an Islamic milieu suffused with socialist…

From Bushehr to Stockholm Mānā Āqāyī (Mana Aghaee) was born in Bushehr in southern Iran in summer 1352/1973. She is the first of two children born to Shīrzād Āqāyī and Khujastih Sulaymān-Aznāvī. Her parents worked…

Introduction Tāhirah Saffārʹzādah’s pen name (takhallus), Mardumak (“the pupil of the eye”), may be regarded as emblematic of her poetic persona. In one phase of her career, she wrote with a rebellious and independent spirit…

Munīr Tāhā: A Bold and Visionary Poet Persian women’s literature simultaneously reflects three key currents: flawless imitation of the established canon of male-dominated Persian literature; unquestioning submission to the imposed norms of a patriarchal literary…

Introduction Tīmūr Gūrkānī’s catastrophic incursion and mass slaughter at the end of AH 8th/14th century delivered a devastating blow to Iran, compounding the destruction wrought by the earlier Mongol invasions. Following Tīmūr’s death, the succession…