|
Shokooh Mirzadegi began her literary work, both as a novelist and a poet,
with Ferdowsi magazine and Kayhan daily in the late 1960s.
Within the last four decades, she has been one of the most active figures
amongst the Iranian literary community, both inside and outside of Iran.
During her time in Iran, she published two collections of short stories,
"Permanent restlessness" and "The Second Beginning", two plays: "The Exiled
of the Year 3000" and "I Think, Therefore I Am", and a number of children
books. Amongst the latter "The Flower and the Sun" is well-known. She also
wrote numerous articles of literary, social and feministic nature. She was
also the editor-in-chief of Talash Magazine.
Alongside her activities as a teacher of Persian language and Literature,
she was actively involved in education and women studies and issues, the
results of which have been published in the shape of a series of articles
and papers.
In
early 1970s, using her ex-husband's surname and writing under Shokooh
Farhang, she participated in the activities of a group of Iranian writers
and artist to free political prisoners. This led to their arrest and trial.
She, along with many others, were sentenced to death. She and some of the
prisoners, accepted to plea for pardon on a TV staged-show, and were freed
after a while. Two of the group members
were executed and some
spent a long time in jail.
After regaining her freedom, she began writing again and in 1977 was able to
get permission to travel abroad. She resided in London but soon returned
home to witness the Revolution of 1978. After the new regime was installed,
she was arrested again and was only released after the intervention of Human
Rights activists such as Dr. A. Lahiji.
She
returned to London to begin her life in exile in 1980. Her works in this
period comprises of publishing of a socio-political periodical called
Moghavemat (Resistance), and a socio-literary periodical called
Mamnu'e-haa (The Forbiddens). She co-edited the latter with late
Manouchehr Mahjoubi. She also wrote a pamphlet on the historical conditions
of Iranian women called "The Downward trend of Social status of Iranian
Women." Together with Esmail Nooriala, she co-edited a literary magazine
called Puyeshgaran for eight years.
She
founded the Iranian Women Organization of Great Britain and participated in
the foundation of Society for Iranian Writers and Artists in Britain. She
also has founded the Center for Iranian Women's Documents and Studies in the
USA.
Her
first full-scale novel, A Stranger within Me, was published in
1993.Three years later; she published a collection of her short stories
(Golden Ark) and in 1987 she wrote and staged a play with feminist themes.
The English translation of A Stranger within Me was published in
2000. Her other works have been translated to French, German and Japanese.
She
has also published numerous articles on literary and social subjects during
her stay in Britain and, now, the USA, and has widely traveled and lectured
on literary and socio-feminist subjects.
She
and her
husband, Esmail Nooriala, immigrated to the USA in 1995 and between 2001 and
2005, they produced and hosted two weekly TV programs, The Thought
Workshop and On the Operating table. In these programs, her
emphasis was on women, human rights and political prisoners issues. The
programs were broadcasted via satellite and reached all over the world,
including Iran.
In
August 2005, when the news of the construction of Sivand Dam in Fars
province of Iran that was to flood the archeological sites of the Pasargad
Plains was released, she became one of the two founders of the International
Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of the Pasargad Plains. She has
supervised the activities of the international branches of this Committee
ever since.
Shokooh Mirzadegi established
the Pasargad Heritage Foundation (PHF) in May 2007. This is an international
organization with the aim of promoting the preservation of the cultural and
historical heritages of Iran.
|
