Archive for April 29th, 2025

1.We are delighted to invite you to the first event of the MELA NOTES Book Talks series:

From the Moon to the Well

A Conversation with Hossein Atashparvar, M.R. Ghanoonparvar, and Mehrak Kamali

Date: Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Time: 2:00 PM Central | 3:00 PM Eastern | 12:00 PM Pacific

Location: Online via Zoom

Registration: https://forms.gle/pzYCFiA5sXVKtRcm7

Join us for a rich and engaging conversation around the newly translated Persian novel From the Moon to the Well by acclaimed Iranian author Hossein Atashparvar, translated by M.R. Ghanoonparvar and published by Mazda Publishers (2024).

Panelists:

• Hossein Atashparvar– Novelist and author of From the Moon to the Well
• R. Ghanoonparvar– Professor Emeritus of Persian and Comparative Literature, The University of Texas at Austin; Translator of the book
• Mehrak Kamali– Associate Professor of Teaching & Persian Language Program Coordinator, The Ohio State University; Author of the MELA Notes review of the book

Moderator:

        Mahdi Ganjavi – MELA Notes Book Review Editor; Lecturer, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto

2. On behalf of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA), we are delighted to announce the recipient of the 2025 IJIA Book Award and two honourable mentions. This year, the submissions represented a wide array of innovative and rigorous scholarship. The selection committee carefully reviewed each submission and engaged in thoughtful deliberation, and we are pleased to recognize these three outstanding contributions to the field.

IJIA Book Award Recipient

Isfahan: Architecture and Urban Experience in Early Modern Iran by Farshid Emami

Farshid Emami’s book examines the transformation of Isfahan during a pivotal period in the seventeenth century. By focusing on both architectural development and the lived experiences of the city’s diverse residents, the book presents a richly textured and methodologically sophisticated narrative. Emami’s elegant prose and mastery of visual and textual sources make this work both scholarly and accessible, offering fresh insights into one of the most iconic cities in the Islamic world.

IJIA Book Award Honourable Mentions

Placing Islam: Geographies of Connection in Twentieth-Century Istanbul  by Timur Warner Hammond

Hammond’s interdisciplinary work reconstructs the spatial imaginaries of residents of the district of Eyüp in Istanbul through geography, ethnography, and literary analysis. His evocative storytelling and innovative methods reveal how spatial practices and religious identity are deeply intertwined in the shaping of urban experience.

Emotion, Mission, Architecture: Building Hospitals in Persia and British India, 1865–1914 by Sara Honarmand Ebrahimi

In this groundbreaking study, Ebrahimi explores how hospitals, as emerging modern institutions, became sites of cultural negotiation and spatial transformation in colonial contexts. Her careful use of illustrations and deep archival research illuminate the intersections of architecture, empire, and healthcare in previously understudied regions.

3. Persian Manuscripts Association (PMA) – Ibn Sina Research Grant

£1,000 grant for innovative research in Persian studies, open to postgraduate and independent scholars. Deadline: 16 May 2025.

The Ibn Sina Research Grant provides £1,000 to support original research in Persian studies, open to postgraduate and independent scholars from any country and discipline. Administered by the PMA, this annual grant supports activities such as archival visits, publication costs, and the organisation of scholarly events, with a preference for projects involving Persian manuscripts.

More information: https://persianmanuscripts.org/grants/

4. Persian Manuscripts Association (PMA) – Mihan Memorial Art Prize

£1,500 prize for emerging artists of Iranian descent working in any medium, recognising creative excellence. No Fixed Deadline.

The Mihan Memorial Art Prize is a £1,500 award supporting emerging artists of Iranian descent working in any artistic medium, from painting and photography to video, installation, and performance. Open to PMA members worldwide, this prize honours bold, innovative artistic practice and offers professional opportunities including a talk in PMA’s monthly series. Additional support may be available depending on the artist’s needs and future projects.

More information: https://persianmanuscripts.org/grants/

5. Prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du monde iranien”, jeudi 15 mai 2025, 17h, à l’INALCO

Le CeRMI a le plaisir de vous convier à la prochaine séance du séminaire “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien”, qui se tiendra le jeudi 15 mai 2025, 17h-19h, en salle 4.15 à l’INaLCO (65 rue des Grands Moulins, Paris XIII, 4^e étage).

Nous sommes heureux d’accueillir M. Austin O’Malley (University of Chicago), pour une conférence intitulée: “Mixtapes and Local Jams: Selection and Regionality in the Nozhat al-majāles, an Early Collection of Persian Quatrains“.

Résumé:

Among the Persian metrical forms, the quatrain (robāʿi) stands out for its brevity, popularity, and wide use in an array of social situations and performance contexts, from humble “folk” recitations to sermons and samāʿ sessions to courtly symposia. In this talk, I will investigate the 13^th-century Nozhat al-majāles, one of the earliest extant collections of quatrains organized by theme, to better understand the role quatrains played within courtly settings and the larger literary ecosystem. Although centered on the Nozhat, the discussion will also make use of early “genre codes” that discuss the social contexts of quatrains’ production and circulation (i.e., Shams-e Qays’ Moʿjam, the Qābus-nāma) as well as the biographical anthology of ʿOwfi and discourses of Neẓāmi-ye ʿArużi.

Taken together, these investigations show how 13^th-century, northwest Iranian potentates engaged in literary culture not only by receiving the “prestige verse” of polished panegyric, but also by presiding over and participating in a more ephemeral process of selection, exchange, and appreciation of quatrains, which were attributed to a wide variety of individuals who were not necessarily professional poets, and many of which were not ultimately preserved in divāns.

Orientations bibliographiques:

• Davidson, Olga M. “Genre and Occasion in the Rubāʿiyyātof ʿUmar Khayyām: The Rubāʿi, Literary History, and Courtly Literature.” In Writers and Rulers: Perspectives of Their Relations from Abbasid to Safavid Times, edited by Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow, 133–44. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2004.
• Meier, Fritz. Die schöne Mahsati. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963
• Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles(bakhsh-e avval).” Maʿāref 4, no. 1 (1376 [1997]): 90–147.
• Mir-afżali, Sayyed ʿAli. “Bar-rasi-ye Nozhat al-majāles(bakhsh-e dovvom).” Maʿāref 14, no. 2 (1376 [1997]): 135–327.
• Seyed-Gohrab, Ali Asghar. “The Flourishing of Persian Quatrains.” In Persian Lyric Poetry in the Classical Era: Ghazals, Panegyrics, Quatrains, edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 488–568. Vol. 2 of A History of Persian Literature, edited by Ehsan Yarshater. London: I.B. Tauris, 2019.
• Shamisā, Sirus. Sayr-e robāʿi dar sheʿr-e fārsi. Tehran: Āshtiāni, 1363 [1984].
• Sharvāni, Jamāl Khalil. Nozhat al-majāles. Edited by Moḥammad Amin-Riyāḥi. 2nd ed. Tehran: ʿElmi, 1375 [1996–97].

Pour rappel, vous retrouverez le programme 2024-2025 du séminaire mensuel de recherche “Sociétés, politiques et cultures du Monde iranien” sur le site du CeRMI:

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