Mina Assadi ( fa, مینا اسدی; born March 12, 1943) is an Iranian-born

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 wri ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

who lives in exile in Stockholm, Sweden.

Author

She is known for writing about controversial and provocative subjects, especially when she describes the fight against the Iranian government. In 2007 she wrote the poem called "

Pimps Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

" (Djakesha). It caused a lot of discussion for being too vulgar. The poem is about those who live in Iran and in exile who have forgotten the struggle. She wrote her debut book, a collection of poems named " Minas Gift" (Armanghane Mina), at the age of 18. Thereafter she worked as a journalist for several well-known Iranian magazines, for example, Kayhan. She has written 14 books in total, the book " Who throws rocks" (Che kasi sang miandazad) attracting the most attention.

Songwriter

Assadi has also written songs for Iranian singers like Ebi ("Halah"),

Dariush Dariush ( fa, داریوش; also spelled ''Darioush'', ''Daryoush'' or ''Daryoosh'') is a common Persian male given name in Iran. Dariush is composed of ''dāraya-'' old+ ''vash-'' ood meaning "holding firm the good". It was the throne name of D ...

("Zendegi jek basie" and "Ahay javoon"),

Hayedeh Ma'soumeh Dadehbala ( fa, معصومه دده‌بالا; 10 April 1942 – 20 January 1990), known professionally as Hayedeh ( fa, هایده), was an Iranian singer with a contralto vocal range. Known for her wide range of voice, her career span ...

("Onkeh jek rosi barajeh man khoda bod"),

Giti Giti Pashaei Tehrani ( fa, گیتی پاشایی تهرانی; sometimes spelt Giti Pashayi; June 13, 1940 – May 7, 1995) was an Iranian singer and musician. Pashaei was one of the most popular Iranian singers of the late 1960s and 1970s. Biogr ...

("Oje parvaz"),

Ramesh Ramesh Ramesh is a common name. In Persian, the name is derived from Pahlavi origin "Ramishn", meaning "happiness". It is also an Indian masculine given name, from Sanskrit, diminutive of Rameshwar, meaning "Lord/husband of Rama (the goddess Laks ...

("To aftabi, to baroni") and Nooshafarin ("Koh he ghavei") and

Afshin Afshin ( fa, افشین / ''Afšīn'') is a common Persian given name, which is a modern Persian word derived from Avestan. Afshin was used by the Sogdians. Historically, it was the princely title of the rulers of Osrushana at the time of the ...

("delam az ru nemire) to name a few.

"Mina Assadi - the Forough Farrokhzad of today"

Ten days before the great Iranian cultural personality and singer

Fereydoun Farrokhzad Fereydoun Farrokhzad ( fa, فریدون فرخزاد; October 7, 1938 – August 3, 1992) was an Iranian showman, host, poet, actor, political activist, singer, humanitarian, and writer. He is best known for his television variety show ''The Silv ...

was brutally murdered in Germany on August 7, 1992, he had a poetry evening. This evening interspersed with poems, songs and political statements. There, Fereydoun compared his late sister, the greatest contemporary poet of Iran,

Forough 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 ...

, to Mina Assadi. A statement that was filmed and became the last video with Fereydoun before his death. “In the time we live in, there are other Iranian poets like Forough as well…

Simin Daneshvar Simin Dāneshvar ( fa, سیمین دانشور)‎ (28 April 1921 – 8 March 2012) was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator. She was largely regarded as the first major Iranian woman novelist. Her books dealt with the ...

, Simin Behbahani, Mina Assadi to name a few. In Stockholm, Sweden, where Mina Assadi is located I asked all the intellectuals in the hall, 500-600 Iranians, why they treat Mina Assadi badly? For Forough that is no longer alive you gather, but you pay little attention to Mina Assadi who is still alive… she is also a Forough… with white hair, without any makeup, she lives a painfully difficult life in exile… but no one pays attention to her and instead they down her. Have you ever heard that there was a memorial evening to honor Mina Assadi? Have you heard of one? Neither have I. She is a poet of

the Persian language ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. One of the great female poets of our time.” Mina Assadi has also been compared to other Persian poets like Simin Behbahani (who as well is a Hellman/Hammet Grant winner) and

Parvin E'tesami 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 ...

and Swedish poets

Karl Vennberg Karl Vennberg (11 April 1910 – 12 May 1995) was a Swedish poet, writer and translator. Born in Blädinge, Alvesta Municipality, Kronoberg County as the son of a farmer, Vennberg studied at Lund University and in Stockholm and worked as a tea ...

and

Edith Södergran Edith Irene Södergran (4 April 1892 – 24 June 1923) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish poet. One of the first modernists within Swedish-language literature, her influences came from French Symbolism, German expressionism, and Russian fu ...

Awards

In the year of 1996, she won the Hellman/Hammett Grant from the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, U.S.

Sources

* R M Chopra, "Eminent Poetesses of Persian", Iran Society, Kolkata, 2010.
"Mina Assadi is the Forough Farrokhzad of today"

External links