Farhang Foundations sponsors the Iranian-American Writers in Dialogue Seminar

By: Dr. Nahid Pirnazar
Photo: Banafsheh P.Abadi
4/30/09

On Saturday, April 18, 2009, Farhang Foundation sponsored the Iranian-American Writers in Dialogue, a one-day seminar at UCLA, organized by Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, in conjunction with University of California at Irvine and the Association of Iranian- American Writers.

from left to right: Farnoosh Moshiri, Dr. Nahid Pirnazar, Nahid Richlin and Dr. Latifheh Haghighi

Guest speakers included Nahid Rachlin, Farnoosh Moshiri, Salar Abdoh and Persis Haim. The seminar was opened by Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh (UCI), which was followed by introductory remarks by Dr. Nahid Pirnazar (UCLA), representing Farhang Foundation sponsor of the event.

Nahid Rachlin, one of the leading Iranian women writers in the United States, had a dialogue with Leila Pazargadi, a Ph.D. student of Comparative Literature at UCLA, with Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh acting as respondent. The discussion with Nahid Rachlin mainly covered her personal life experience in Iran and the United States, as well as a review and text reading of some of her writings including Foreigner, published in 1978. Persian Girls: A Memoir, one of her most recent writings, based on her autobiography.

Farnoosh Moshiri, an independent political writer, expressed her vision and motivations for being a writer, in a dialogue with Amy DePaul (UCI). As a former student opposing the prior regime in Iran, she expressed her frustration and disappointment in the Islamic government of Iran. Most of her writings are about the torture and oppressions experienced in Iran. She feels that “it is her responsibility” to inform her English speaking audience about the conditions in Iran. Against Gravity, published in 2005 is one her earlier publications in this respect. A selection of one of her texts was read to the audience.

Salar Abdoh, another panelist, had a dialogue with Elham Gheytanchi (Santa Monica College). Salar is a young Iranian American writer whose fiction represents a mixture of Iranian and American culture. In this panel, he expressed his interest in looking into Iranian classical literary and philosophical works as an inspiration in his future writings. Abdoh’s first novel, The Poet Game, focuses on a young agent sent by a top-secret Iranian government agency to infiltrate a group of Islamic extremists in New York. Though the book was published in 1999, it received greater attention following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
Persis Karimi (San Jose State University), founder of The Association of Iranian American Writers was the final panelist, in dialogue with Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh. Most of her works have reflected Iranian English Writers in America. The compilation and edition of Let me tell you where I’ve been: New writing by Women of the Iranian Diaspora, published in 2006, in an example of her effort to represent an emerging multicultural generation of female writers and poets.

670AM KIRN Radio Iran interviewed the panelist, which was later broadcasted.