Shokooh Mirzadegi
Encyclopedia
Shokooh Mirzādegi began her literary work, both as a novelist and a poet
, with Ferdowsi magazine and Kayhān daily in the late 1960s in Iran
. Over the past four decades, she has been one of the most active figures in the Iranian
literary community, both inside and outside Iran.
Alongside her activities as a teacher of Persian language
and Literature
, she has been actively involved in issues related to education
and women's studies
, the results of which have been published in the form of a series of articles and papers.
In the early 1970s, using her ex-husband's surname and writing under Shokooh Farhang, she participated in the activities of a group of Iranian writers and artists to free political prisoner
s. This led to their arrest and trial. She, along with many others of this group, were initially sentenced to death. On accepting to plea for pardon on a TV show-trial, she and some other co-defendants were freed after a while. Two of the group's members were executed however and some spent long-term prison sentences in jail
.
After regaining her freedom, she began writing again and in 1977 was able to obtain permission to travel abroad. She settled for some time in London
but before long returned home to witness the Revolution of 1978-1979
. After the new regime came to power, she was arrested again and was released only after the intervention of some Human Rights activists, notably Abdolkarim Lahiji of International Federation of Human Rights Leagues.
She returned to London to begin her life in exile in 1980. Her works in this period comprises publishing of a socio-political periodical called Moghāvemat (مقاومت - Resistance), and a socio-literary periodical called Mamnu'e-hā (ممنوعه ها - The Forbiddens). She co-edited the latter with the late Manouchehr Mahjoubi. She also wrote a pamphlet on the historical conditions of Iranian women called Say'r-e nozuli-ye moghe'iyyat-e zan az āghaz tā eslām (سير نزولی موقعيت زن از آغاز تا اسلام - The downward trend of the social status of women from beginning until Islam
). Together with Esmail Nooriala, she co-edited a literary magazine called Puyeshgarān (پويشگران - Explorers) for eight years.
She founded the Iranian Women Organization of Great Britain
and participated in the foundation of Society for Iranian Writers and Artists in Britain. She also has founded the Center for Iranian Women's Documents and Studies in the USA.
Her first major novel, Bigāneh-yi dar man (بيگانه ای در من - A Stranger Within Me), was published in 1993. Three years later, she published a collection of her short stories Golden Ārk (گلدن آرک - Golden Ark) and in 1987 she wrote and staged a play with feminist themes. The English translation of Bigāneh-yi dar man, A Stranger Within Me, was published in 2000. Her other works have been translated into French
, German
and Japanese
.
She has also published numerous articles on literary and social subjects during her time in the United Kingdom
and, now, the USA, and has widely travelled and lectured on literary and socio-feminist subjects.
She and her husband, Esmail Nooriala, immigrated to the USA in 1995, where between 2001 and 2005 they produced and hosted two weekly television
programs, Kārgāh-e Andisheh (کارگاه انديشه - The Thought Workshop) and Bar Miz-e Tashrih (بر ميز تشريح - On the Operating Table). The main emphasis of these programs were on subjects related to women, human rights and political prisoners. The programs were broadcast via satellite and reached the entire globe, including Iran.
In August 2005, on becoming known that the coming into operation of Sivand Dam
in the Fars Province, Iran, would lead to inundation of the archaeological sites of the Pasargadae Plains
, she became one of the two founders of International Committee to Save the Archaeological Sites of the Pasargadae Plains. She has supervised the activities of the international branches of this Committee since then.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, with Ferdowsi magazine and Kayhān daily in the late 1960s in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. Over the past four decades, she has been one of the most active figures in the Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
literary community, both inside and outside Iran.
Career
During her time in Iran, she published two collections of short stories, Bi-gharāri-hā-ye Pāydār (بی قراری های پايدار - Permanent restlessness) and Āghāz-e Dow'wom (آغاز دوم - The Second Beginning), two plays, Tab'idi-e Sāl-e 3000 (تبعيدی سال 3000 - The Exiled of the Year 3000) and Man Harekat Mikonam, Pas Hastam (من حرکت می کنم پس هستم - I Move, Therefore I Am) and a number of children's books. Amongst the latter, Gol va Āftāb (گل و آفتاب - The Flower and the Sun) is the most well-known. She also wrote numerous articles of the literary, social and feministic nature. She was further the editor-in-chief of Talāsh (Struggle) Magazine.Alongside her activities as a teacher of Persian language
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and Literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
, she has been actively involved in issues related to education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and women's studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...
, the results of which have been published in the form of a series of articles and papers.
In the early 1970s, using her ex-husband's surname and writing under Shokooh Farhang, she participated in the activities of a group of Iranian writers and artists to free political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s. This led to their arrest and trial. She, along with many others of this group, were initially sentenced to death. On accepting to plea for pardon on a TV show-trial, she and some other co-defendants were freed after a while. Two of the group's members were executed however and some spent long-term prison sentences in jail
Jail
A jail is a short-term detention facility in the United States and Canada.Jail may also refer to:In entertainment:*Jail , a 1966 Malayalam movie*Jail , a 2009 Bollywood movie...
.
After regaining her freedom, she began writing again and in 1977 was able to obtain permission to travel abroad. She settled for some time in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
but before long returned home to witness the Revolution of 1978-1979
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
. After the new regime came to power, she was arrested again and was released only after the intervention of some Human Rights activists, notably Abdolkarim Lahiji of International Federation of Human Rights Leagues.
She returned to London to begin her life in exile in 1980. Her works in this period comprises publishing of a socio-political periodical called Moghāvemat (مقاومت - Resistance), and a socio-literary periodical called Mamnu'e-hā (ممنوعه ها - The Forbiddens). She co-edited the latter with the late Manouchehr Mahjoubi. She also wrote a pamphlet on the historical conditions of Iranian women called Say'r-e nozuli-ye moghe'iyyat-e zan az āghaz tā eslām (سير نزولی موقعيت زن از آغاز تا اسلام - The downward trend of the social status of women from beginning until Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
). Together with Esmail Nooriala, she co-edited a literary magazine called Puyeshgarān (پويشگران - Explorers) for eight years.
She founded the Iranian Women Organization of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and participated in the foundation of Society for Iranian Writers and Artists in Britain. She also has founded the Center for Iranian Women's Documents and Studies in the USA.
Her first major novel, Bigāneh-yi dar man (بيگانه ای در من - A Stranger Within Me), was published in 1993. Three years later, she published a collection of her short stories Golden Ārk (گلدن آرک - Golden Ark) and in 1987 she wrote and staged a play with feminist themes. The English translation of Bigāneh-yi dar man, A Stranger Within Me, was published in 2000. Her other works have been translated into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
She has also published numerous articles on literary and social subjects during her time in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and, now, the USA, and has widely travelled and lectured on literary and socio-feminist subjects.
She and her husband, Esmail Nooriala, immigrated to the USA in 1995, where between 2001 and 2005 they produced and hosted two weekly television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programs, Kārgāh-e Andisheh (کارگاه انديشه - The Thought Workshop) and Bar Miz-e Tashrih (بر ميز تشريح - On the Operating Table). The main emphasis of these programs were on subjects related to women, human rights and political prisoners. The programs were broadcast via satellite and reached the entire globe, including Iran.
In August 2005, on becoming known that the coming into operation of Sivand Dam
Sivand Dam
Sivand Dam is a planned dam in Fars Province, Iran. Named after the nearby town of Sivand located northwest of Shiraz, it has become the center of worldwide concern due to the flooding it will cause in historical and archaeologically rich areas of Ancient Persia and possible harm it may cause to...
in the Fars Province, Iran, would lead to inundation of the archaeological sites of the Pasargadae Plains
Pasargadae
Pasargadae , the capital of Cyrus the Great and also his last resting place, was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.-History:...
, she became one of the two founders of International Committee to Save the Archaeological Sites of the Pasargadae Plains. She has supervised the activities of the international branches of this Committee since then.
Books
- Shokooh Mirzadegi, That Stranger Within Me, translated from Persian (بيگانه ای در من - Bigāneh-yi dar man) by Esmail Nooriala, 191 p. (IBEX Publishers, Bethesda, Maryland, 2002). ISBN 0-936347-83-X
External links
- Shokooh Mirzadegi's Official Website: http://www.puyeshgaraan.com/Shokooh/Mirzadegi.htm.
- International Committee to Save the Archaeological Sites of Pasargad: English, Persian.
- A video programme (in Persian) concerning the inundation plans of Tangeh Bolaghi: Iran Pasargadae Sivand Dam News ..., October 5, 2006, YouTube.
- Pasargadae — The seat of the Persian Empire, YouTube.
- Mohammad Sālehi-Zādeh and Negār Sālehi-Zādeh, directors and producers, The last screams of Bolāghi Gorge and Pasargadae Plains ("Ākharin Faryād'ha'ye Tang-e ye Bolāghi va Dasht-e Pāsār'gād"), dedicated to International Committee to Save the Archaeological Sites of Pasargad, YouTube.
See also
- Tangeh Bolaghi
- Sivand DamSivand DamSivand Dam is a planned dam in Fars Province, Iran. Named after the nearby town of Sivand located northwest of Shiraz, it has become the center of worldwide concern due to the flooding it will cause in historical and archaeologically rich areas of Ancient Persia and possible harm it may cause to...