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

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

-style of poetic form. She was an icon of modern

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 ...

, Iranian

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

and literati who affectionately refer to her as ''the lioness of Iran''. She was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in literature, and "received many literary accolades around the world."Tehran Halts Travel By Poet Called 'Lioness Of Iran'
by Mike Shuster, NPR, 17 March 2010

Early life and family

Association of Patriotic Women, Board of Governors, 1301-1311, Tehran

Simin Behbahani, whose name at birth was Siminbar Khalili ( fa, سیمین بر خلیلی) (سيمين بر خليلی), was the daughter of

Abbas Khalili Abbas ibn Asadullah bin Ali al-Khalili al-Najafi, also known as Abbas al-Khalili, and Abbas Khalili (1895 or 1896 – 10 February 1972) was an Iraqi-born Iranian diplomat, newspaper publisher, poet and novelist. He was a pillar of the Najaf rev ...

, an Iraqi-born poet, diplomat, newspaper publisher, and editor of the (English: ''Action'') newspaper, and , poet and teacher of the French language. Abbās Khalili wrote poetry in both

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 ...

and

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 ...

and he translated some 1100 verses of

Ferdowsi Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...

into Arabic. Fahr-Ozma Arghun was one of the progressive women of her time and a member of ''Kānun-e Nesvān-e Vatan'khāh'' (Association of Patriotic Women) between 1925 and 1929. In addition to her membership of ''Hezb-e Democrāt'' (Democratic Party) and ''Kānun-e Zanān'' (Women's Association), she was for a time (1932) Editor of the ''Āyandeh-ye Iran'' (Future of Iran) newspaper. She taught French at the secondary schools ''Nāmus'', ''Dār ol-Mo'allemāt'' and ''No'bāvegān'' in Tehran.

Career

Simin Behbahani started writing poetry at twelve and published her first poem at the age of fourteen. She used the "Char Pareh" style of

Nima Yooshij Nimā Yushij ( fa, نیما یوشیج) (11 November 1895 – 4 January 1960), also called Nimā (), born Ali Esfandiāri (), was an Iranian poet. He is famous for his style of poetry which he popularized, called ''she'r-e now'' (, lit. "new p ...

and subsequently turned to ''

''. Behbahani contributed to a historic development by adding theatrical subjects and daily events and conversations to poetry using the ''ghazal'' style of poetry. She has expanded the range of the traditional Persian verse forms and has produced some of the most significant works of the Persian literature in the 20th century. She was President of the

Iranian Writers' Association Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

and was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

in 1999 and 2002. In 2013, she was awarded the Janus Pannonius Grand Prize for Poetry. In early March 2010, she could not leave the country due to official prohibitions. As she was about to board a plane to Paris, police detained her and interrogated her "all night long". She was released but without her passport. Her English translator (Farzaneh Milani) expressed surprise at the arrest as detention as Behbahani was then 82 and nearly blind, "we all thought that she was untouchable."

Personal life

She had two marriages, the first was to Hassan Behbahani and it ended in divorce. She had three children from her first marriage, one daughter and two sons. Her second marriage was to Manuchehr Koushyar and it ended when he died in 1984.

Death

Behbahani was hospitalized on 6 August 2014. She remained in coma from 6 August until her death on 19 August 2014, and died in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

's Pars Hospital of

Pulmonary heart disease Pulmonary heart disease, also known as cor pulmonale, is the enlargement and failure of the right ventricle of the heart as a response to increased vascular resistance (such as from pulmonic stenosis) or high blood pressure in the lungs. Chronic ...

at the age of 87. Her funeral, attended by thousands, was held on 22 August in Vahdat Hall, and her body was buried at Behesht-e Zahra.

Works

*The Broken Lute eh-tar-e Shekasteh, 1951*Footprint a-ye Pa, 1954*Chandelier helcheragh, 1955*Marble armar 1961*Resurrection astakhiz, 1971*A Line of Speed and Fire hatti ze Sor'at va Atash, 1980*Arzhan Plain asht-e Arzhan, 1983*Paper Dress aghazin Jameh, 1992*A Window of freedom ek Daricheh Azadi, 1995*Collected Poems ehran 2003*Maybe It's the Messiah

hayad ke Masihast, Tehran 2003 Hayad is a village ''de jure'' in the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan, but ''de facto'' in the Martakert Province of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ...

Selected Poems, translated by Ali Salami *A Cup of Sin, Selected poems, translated by Farzaneh Milani and Kaveh Safa

Awards and honours

*1998 – Human Rights Watch Hellman-Hammet Grant *1999 –

Carl von Ossietzky Medal The (ILMR) has awarded the Carl von Ossietzky Medal since 1962. The league has honored personalities, initiatives or organizations who have worked with civil courage and outstanding commitment to the realization of human rights annually since 1962 ...

*2006 – Norwegian Authors' Union Freedom of Expression Prize *2009 – mtvU Poet Laureate *2013 – Janus Pannonius Poetry Prize, from the Hungarian PEN Club

References

External links

Biography of Simin BehbahaniAn International Symposium on The Life and Poetry of Simin BehbahaniSimin Behbahani Lecture & Book Signing – UCLA
*Simin Behbahani reads poetry at

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, 6 February 2005, YouTube
part 1part 2
.
Sārā Ommat-e Ali, ''Simin Behbahani: I am alive''
in

, ''Sarmāyeh'' apitalNewspaper (''Ruz'nāmeh-ye Sarmāyeh''). Reprinted in: Association of the Iranian Women (''Kānun-e Zanān-e Irani''), Wednesday 5 December 2007.
Shahāb Mirzāi, ''A Line Made From Swiftness and Fire'' (''Khatti ze Sor'at va Ātash''), in Persian, Jadid Online, 2008
/>''A slide show of photographs with text spoken by Simin Behbahani'', Jadid Online, 2008:
(3 min 56 sec). {{DEFAULTSORT:Behbahani, Simin 1927 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Iranian poets Persian-language poets Writers from Tehran Iranian lyricists Iranian women writers Persian-language women poets Iranian women's rights activists Iranian democracy activists Members of the National Council for Peace Iranian Writers Association members Iranian people of Iraqi descent 21st-century Iranian poets Poets from Tehran