Fakhr ʿUzmā Arghūn (1277-1345/1898-1966) was a pioneering poet, journalist, and activist dedicated to advancing the status of women and expanding their roles in society. Her work focused primarily on the socio-political progress of Iran, with…

View Fullscreen Of all the many ways in which literature can be delineated and categorized, distinctions along gender lines are perhaps the most complex. Debate around this label, and its implied hierarchy of writerly worth,…

View Fullscreen Historicizing women’s poetry involves investigation of the evolution of poetry by Iranian women from the beginnings of Persian literature in approximately 900 CE (400 AH) to the present (2023 CE/1402 HS). This study…

View Fullscreen Introduction Poetry has been the heart of Persianate culture for a long time. More than any artistic media, poems have shaped and manifested Persian mental life for about a millennium.1[The author wishes to…

View Fullscreen Her Life in Shiraz Jahān was an Injuid princess, and daughter of the ruler of Shiraz, Masʿūd Shāh (r. 736/1336-739/1339).1Dick Davis, trans., The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry…

View Fullscreen Introduction Māh Sharaf Khānum Mastūrah, a nineteenth-century Iranian poet who wrote under the pen name “Mastūrah,” was born in Sanandaj (a city in the Kurdistān province) around 1220 AH/1805 CE. According to the…

View Fullscreen Introduction The 1370s/1990s marked a significant turning point in contemporary Iranian poetry, characterized by a bold departure from established norms and the emergence of diverse poetic voices. Among the most transformative developments of…

View Fullscreen Introduction The corpus of poetry preserved from Persian-speaking female poets is markedly limited compared to that of their male counterparts. As the editor of Hayrān Khānum’s Dīvān (Book of Poems) observes, “At the…

View Fullscreen Introduction In 1374/1995, the Dīvān (Book of poems) of Jahān Malik Khātūn was edited and published by Pūrānʹdukht Kāshānī Rād and Kāmil Ahmadʹpūr. Despite being the most extensive collection of poetry by a woman—and…

Introduction Rābi‎‎ʿah bint Ka‎ʿb Quzdārī was a poet who lived in the AH 4th/10th century. She has been referred to by various names, including “bint Ka‎ʿb,”1Muhammad ibn ‎ʿUmar al-Rādūyānī, Tarjumān al-balāghah [Interpreter of eloquence], ed….

View Fullscreen “Border art deals with shifting identities, border crossings, and hybridism,” —Gloria Anzaldúa1Gloria Anzaldúa, “Border Arte: Nepantla, el Lugar de la Frontera,” in The Gloria Anzaldúa Reader, ed.  AnaLouise Keating (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009),…

View Fullscreen Prologue Traveling from Tehran to Kerman, as one approaches the province, the desert landscape becomes increasingly expansive, the villages more scattered, the sun more intense, and water—life’s essential resource—ever scarcer. The resilient inhabitants…

View Fullscreen   Figure 1. Portrait of Zhālah Isfahānī. Image source: Jaleh Esfahani Cultural Foundation. The poet known throughout her career as Zhālah Isfahānī (1300–1386/1921–2007) was born in Isfahan and officially registered as Itil Sultānī….

View Fullscreen Introduction Much of what is known about Īrān‎ʹdukht Taymūrtāsh (1295–1370/1916–1991) comes from the influence of her father, ʿAbd al-Husayn Taymūrtāsh (1261–1312/1882–1933), who played a key role in the transition of power from the…

View Fullscreen 1. Introduction Half of human society is composed of women; however, the patriarchal structure of the world has historically provided them with fewer opportunities and limited access to the tools necessary for demonstrating…

View Fullscreen Parvīn Dawlatābādī: Life and Works Parvīn Dawlatābādī (1303–1387/1924–2008) was born in Dawlatabad, a town in the city of Isfahan. Her mother, Fakhr Gītī, served as the principal of the Nāmūs School in Isfahan,…

View Fullscreen To Vahīd Amīnīzādah Yazdī and their Zhīvār Introduction Pastoral poetry emerged from the contradiction between the urban and the rural, fueled by the duality of culture and nature, complexity and simplicity, the real…

View Fullscreen Introduction Shahīn Hannānah, the contemporary poet, writer, journalist, songwriter, and painter, was born on Day 3, 1319/December 24, 1940, in Sari, in northern Iran, to a father from Tehran and a mother from…

View Fullscreen Introduction One significant outcome of Iran’s encounter with Western thought, beginning in the early 14th/20th century, was the emergence and growing participation of women in scientific, social, cultural, political and artistic fields. During…

View Fullscreen Introduction Classical Persian literature, up until the Constitutional era, is predominantly patriarchal, with women primarily objectified as beloved figures or symbols of beauty, while their roles as intellectuals or pioneers of literary styles…

View Fullscreen Introduction Is there such a thing as feminine or masculine literature?1This article acknowledges the diversity of sexual identities and orientations. However, it specifically addresses the binary categories of male and female. This focus…

View Fullscreen Introduction This article explores the life and work of Marvā Nabīlī, an overlooked yet significant figure in modern Iranian art, cinema, and poetry. Known for her deeply personal and feminist voice, Nabīlī moved…

View Fullscreen The Constitutional Revolution marked the beginning of a new awakening across Iran, especially in Gilan. One of the most profound impacts of this political, social, and intellectual movement was the active participation of…

View Fullscreen Introduction This article examines the Safarʹnāmah-ʾi hajj, a unique pilgrimage travelogue composed in verse by Shahrʹbānū Baygum, wife of the Safavid court official Mīrzā Khalīl.1While the name Shahrʹbānū Baygum is not securely attested…

Introduction In the history of Persian poetry, there are few women poets, and even fewer known for their conviction of “heresy,” who have left as indelible a mark as Fātimah Baraghānī, famously known as Tāhirah…