By Kayhan Life Staff
Ten female poets – nine of them Iranian, and one of them Afghan – launched a collection of poems titled “Songs of Freedom” in an event at the Kensington Central Library in London.
The book is published by Afsana Press, managed by Goran Babaali. On the evening of Jan. 17, a large number of poetry enthusiasts gathered for the launch, which Babaali hosted. He noted that the book had received the endorsement of a number of personalities from the British book and media world, including the former UK Minister of State and MP Clare Short.
According to the Afsana Press website, the book is “an ode to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and in memory of Jina Mahsa Amini – a Kurdish young woman who died in custody as result of brutal treatment by the Iranian regime’s ‘morality police’ in September 2022.”
Poets included are: Azita Ghahraman; Ava Homa; Ziba Karbassi; Soheila Mirzaei; Sana Nassari; Nasrin Parvaz; Mehrangiz Rassapour (M. Pegah); Shirin Razavian; Muzhgan Saghar Schaffa; and Rouhi Shafii.
The book’s introduction — on current events and the role of books in resistance movements – is by Shahrzad Mojab, professor of Women and Gender Studies at University of Toronto.
The London launch featured poetry readings by poets present – both in Persian and in English – and a musical performance by the renowned Iraqi Kurdish harpist Tara Jaff, who has arranged well-known Iranian and Kurdish songs for the harp. One favorite she performed was Anoushirvan Rouhani’s “Sultan-e Ghalbha.”
For more information: www.afsana-press.com.
