An evening of contemporary Iranian poetry

This special evening of readings is dedicated to contemporary Iranian poetry in celebration of Nottingham Poetry Festival and the launch of The Book of Tehran.

Persian literature and poetry has a long history and continues to influence and inspire Western poets and writers today. While Khayyam was a central figure of the Victorian era, since the beginning of the 21st century Rumi has been seen as the most popular poet worldwide and Hafez has been one of the most frequently translated. The 1979 Iranian revolution, led many Iranians to immigrate to other countries. This resettlement has given birth to a new chapter in the history of Persian literature, one created in diaspora. This new wave carrying on the tradition of Persian poetry, have created significant and surprising work outside of Iran with a prolific diversity of voices. For this evening, be taken on a journey with readings from poetry by Alireza Abiz, Orkideh Behrouzan, Niloufar Talebi, Sherry Fatemi & Mina Fatemi and more.

The Book of Tehran – a new collection of short stories from ten contemporary writers from Iran – published by Comma Press is part of a wider programme from Visiting Arts bringing greater awareness to Iranian literature and culture in the UK and encouraging the advancement of Persian to English translation. Comma Press’ Reading the City series is a collection of anthologies featuring and translating the globes best writers of short fiction, and continues to enjoy success since the first book, The Book of Leeds, was published in 2006. Since 1977, Visiting Arts has worked on projects promoting international artistic exchange to foster greater understanding and collaboration between cultures.