Fifty Years Later Conference 3-5 February 2017

• In February 1987, a conference on Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967) and her poetry took place at The University of Texas at Austin featuring: movie screenings; an exhibition of photographs; a performance of dramatic readings staged by Pari Saberi with the participation of Mansur Taghehchian and music by the late Kamran Hooshmand; conference papers by the late Leonardo P. Alishan, Hamid Dabashi, the late Karim Emami, M.R. Ghanoonparvar, Zjaleh Hajibashi, William L. Hanaway, Farzaneh Milani, Rivanne Sandler, Diane Senese, and the late Girdhari Tikki; and conference participation by Heshmat Moayyad, , the late Ali Jazayery, Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Shahla Haeri, Hasan Javadi, John Green, and conference organizer Michael Craig Hillmann. Those papers appeared a year later in Forugh Farrokhzad: A Quarter-Century Later– Literature East & West 24 (1988). The Conference enjoyed support from the Foundation for Iranian Studies, UT’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the UT department later renamed Department of Middle Eastern Studies.

• Now, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Forugh Farrokhzad’s death, another conference, called Forugh Farrokhzad Fifty Years Later, will take place at The University of Texas. Conference co-sponsors are: UT Austin’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Society of Iranian American Women in Austin, and an ad hoc group of Austin Iranian-American community leaders coordinated by Bijan Afkami. Michael Craig Hillmann will serve as Conference Coordinator.

• The conference will emphasize three themes: Farrokhzad’s poetry and status in today, Farrokhzad’s influence in the hyphenated Iranian world outside of Iran, and the critical appreciation of Farrokhzad’s poetry qua poetry in the second decade of the 21st century. The academic periodical Iran Namag, edited by Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, is inviting the Farrokhzad Conference to submit papers presented at it for publication in a special issue of the journal.

• The conference will consist simply of a consecutive series of papers of any length followed by seminar discussion throughout the day on Saturday, February 4th, and in the morning of Sunday, February 5th. Altogether, plans call for between eight and ten slots for papers.

• On Friday evening, Hassan Fayyad will screen and discuss his in-progress interpretative documentary film called Forugh Farrohzad: A Journey along the Line Time. On Saturday evening, Maryam Sadeghi will coordinate and participate in an evening of readings from Farrokhzâd’s poems. Persian music will accompany the readings.

• For more information about the Forugh Farrokhzad Fifty Years Later Conference, write to: [email protected]. Those interested in presenting a paper should send a proposal or abstract to the same e-address by mid- October.