Mana Aghaee ( fa, مانا آقایی; born 24 August 1973 in

Bushehr Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

poet, translator, podcast producer, and scholar of

Iranian Studies Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

Background

Mana Aghaee was born

24 August Events Pre-1600 * 367 – Gratian, son of Roman Emperor Valentinian I, is named co-Augustus at the age of eight by his father. * 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, is written. * ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

into a

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

family in

, Iran. In

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

her family emigrated to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and settled in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. She is the daughter of the Iranian literary

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Shirzad Aghaee of

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

. She is married to

Ashk Dahlén Ashk Peter Dahlén (born 3 June 1972 in Tafresh, Iran) is a Swedish-Iranian scholar, linguist, Iranologist, Associate Professor (docent) in Persian language at Uppsala University, and translator of classical Persian literature. He is quadrilin ...

, Swedish scholar and translator of

Persian literature Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

, since 1994.

Career

Mana Aghaee has a

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

from

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

, and is a specialist in modern

. She regularly contributes to Persian literary journals and magazines inside and outside of Iran. Her poems have also been translated into several languages, among them,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two o ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. Mana Aghaee is a pioneer writer in Persian of short form poetry,

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

and

Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the ''Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short poem ...

, originally from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She has also contributed to introducing Swedish as well as

Persian poetry Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...

, especially poetry from Japan and

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, in Persian. She was the founder and co-producer of ''Sherophone'', the first biweekly

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

in 2010.

Reception

Mana Aghaee's poems has been well received in Iran and among the

Iranian diaspora Iranian diaspora refers to Iranian people or those who are of Iranian ancestry living outside Iran.Parvin Etesami Parvin E'tesami (1907 – April 5, 1941) also known as Rakhshandeh Etesami ( fa, رخشنده اعتصامی), and Parvin Etesami ( fa, پروین اعتصامی), was an Iranian 20th-century Persian poet. Life Parvin E'tesami was born in 1907 i ...

Forugh Farrokhzad Forugh Farrokhzad ( fa, فروغ فرخزاد; 28 December 1934 – 14 February 1967) was an influential Iranian poet and film director. She was a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclast,* feminist author.Forugh Farrokhzad died at the age ...

Simin Behbahani Simin Behbahani, her surname also appears as Bihbahani (née Siminbar Khalili; fa, سیمین بهبهانی; 20 July 1927 – 19 August 2014) was a prominent Iranian contemporary poet, lyricist and activist. She is known for her poems in a ghaz ...

, Mana Aghaee, and Ziba Karbasi, among others, stand out."Anu Dhawan, ''Persian Influence on Art, Architecture, Philosophy and Culture of Indian Subcontinent'', New Delhi: Anuradha Prakashan, 2023, p. 64-65.

Published works

Collections of poetry * ''Dar emtedād-i parvāz'', Vällingby, 1991. * ''Marg agar labhā-ye torā dāsht'', Bushehr, 2003. * ''Man 'Isā ebn-e khodam'', Stockholm, 2007. * ''Zemestān mashugh-e man ast'', Stockholm, 2012. Aghaee's work can be found in the following

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

: *
Rattapallax - Endangered Languages & Poetry
', ed. Catherine Feltcher, No 13, New York: Rattapallax Press, 2006. *
Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians around the World
', ed.

Niloufar Talebi Niloufar Talebi ( fa, نیلوفر طالبی) is an author, literary translator, librettist, multidisciplinary artist, and producer. She was born in London to Iranian parents. Her work has been presented by, and/or performed at Carnegie Hall, C ...

, Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2008. * ''The Poetry of Iranian Women: A Contemporary Anthology'', ed. Sheema Kalbasi, Scotts Valley: CreateSpace, 2009. * ''Private - International Review of Photographs and Texts'', No 42, Saint-Brisson: Oriano Sportelli Publisher, Autumn 2008. * ''Eminent Poetesses of Persian'', ed. S.R.M. Chopra, Kolkata: Iran Society, 2010. *
The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry By Women
', ed. Dick Davis, Washington D.C.: Mage Publishers, 2020. *
Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women, 1960–2022
', ed.

Mojdeh Bahar Mojdeh Bahar ( fa, مژده بهار) is an American patent attorney and government official specialized in technology transfer. She is the associate director for innovation and industry services at the National Institute of Standards and Technol ...

, Washington D.C.: Mage Publishers, 2023. Literary Translations * ''Havāpeymā-i be ārāmi-ye sanjāqak'' (contemporary East Asian poetry), Tehran, 2014. (Persian) * ''Docharkhe-ye bāldār'' (150 Swedish haiku), Ahvaz, 2018. (Persian) Bibliographical Works * ''Lexikon över iranska författare i Sverige'' (A Bibliography of Iranian Writers in Sweden), Uppsala, 2002. (Swedish) * ''Ketabshenāsi-ye she'r-e zanān-e irān'' (A Bibliography of Iranian Women Poets), Stockholm, 2007. (Persian) Academic Articles * "Den persiska litteraturen i Sverige (Persian Literature in Sweden)", ''Litteraturens gränsland. Invandrar- och minoritetslitteratur i nordiskt perspektiv'', ed. S. Gröndahl, Uppsala: Uppsala University Press, 2002. (Swedish) * "Inledning", ''Mosaikens turkosa eko: persisk modern poesi'' (Introduction to Modern Persian Poetry), Stockholm, 2002. (Swedish)

References

External links