سیمین خانم

Simin Behbahani (Persian: سیمین بهبهانی; b. 1927, Tehran, Iran) is one of the most prominent figures in modern Persian literature and one of the outstanding contemporary Persian poets. Currently, she is Iran's national poet and an icon of Iranian intelligentsia and literati.

Behbani started writing poetry at twelve years of age and published her first poem at age fourteen. She used the "Char Pareh" style of Nima, a renowned poet of Persian history, and subsequently, turn to ghazal.

Behbani contributed to a historic development as she added theatrical subjects and daily events and conversations using the ghazal style of poetry. She has expanded the range of traditional Persian verse forms and produced some of the most significant works of Persian literature in 20th century.

She is president of The Iranian Writers' Association and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997.

Awards and honors

* Human Rights Watch Hellman-Hammet Grant (1998)
* Carl von Ossietzky Medal (1999)

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