This day is observed every year on the death anniversary of the most prominent figure of contemporary Persian poetry Mohammad-Hossein Behjat Tabrizi – Shahriar.

Several of the over 480 articles submitted to the congress will be presented during the event, which will be attended by literati and a number of cultural officials, including Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili and Academy of Persian Language and Literature director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel.

Among the topics scheduled to be discussed at the congress are the aesthetics in Shahriar’s poems, the wide range of literary devices he used in his poetry, the sociology of his works, his influence on Persian poetry and the influence of other poets on his poetry.

Speaking in a press conference held last week to brief the media about the congress, Coordination Council for Preservation of the Persian Language secretary Mahmud Shalui called Shahriar a genius of Persian poetry and literature.

“The Academy of Persian Language and Literature, and different departments of the culture ministry across Iran have arranged a variety of cultural programs to commemorate Shahriar,” he said.

He added that there will be special programs in Tabriz, the capital of East Azarbaijan Province, which is home to Shahriar’s birthplace and tomb.

“He deserves a greater appreciation; the outstanding Persian poetry master composed both in Persian and Azerbaijani,” Shalui said.

As the most prominent figure of contemporary Persian literature, Shahriar was mainly influenced by the poetry of Hafez, a Persian poet writing in the 14th century.

Shahriar, who also composed works in Azerbaijani, published his first book of poems in 1929 with prefaces by Persian literature scholars Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Saeid Nafisi and Pejman Bakhtiari.

“Heidar Babaya Salam” is Shahriar’s most famous Azerbaijani poetry collection, which highlights his birthplace, the village of Heidar Baba.

Photo: A bust of Persian poet Shahriar is seen in front of Maqbarat ush-Shoara in Tabriz, which houses his tomb and the graves of several other poets.

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“My Beloved, Where Are You?” has been released by Sureh-Mehr, a major publishing house affiliated with the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization.

The collection carries 115 works by various poets, selected by Zahra Hosseinzadeh.

Several gunmen attacked Kabul University, shooting at students in their classrooms and clashing with security forces for hours on November 2, 2020.

At least 22 people were killed and 22 others wounded when gunmen stormed the university in a brutal assault.

Some of the students had calls from their mothers and fathers. One of the victims had 142 missed calls, and there was a final text message that read, “My beloved, where are you?”

The brutal attack has been strongly condemned around the world.

The message was also the theme of the Afghanistan Art Week organized by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO in Tehran in December 2020.

Iranian artists have always shown a reaction to the oppression of Afghan people in various periods of history.

In May, Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi strongly criticized the world for not speaking out against the bomb attack outside the Sayed Al-Shuhada School in Afghanistan in the Afghan capital of Kabul that claimed the lives of over 60 people including schoolgirls.

“I regret having to live in a time when justice is a meaningless word in this age of futility… I wish we had died and not seen the death of justice and humanity, and we would not have witnessed such tragic silence over the sad martyrdom of dozens of oppressed girls from the Afghan Hazara community,” he wrote in a statement.

In addition, Iranian pianist Bardia Sadrenoori released a single titled “Afghan Child” in memory of the children killed in the terrorist attack on the school.

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