TEHRAN – The 17th Golden Pen Awards did not select any winners this year with the exception of those in the categories of adults’ poetry and research.

“Where There Is No Name”, which contains over 50 love songs by Yusefalai Mirshakak, and “From Being a Cocoon to Becoming a Butterfly”, which carries simple strategies for a better and more beautiful life by Mohammadreza Ruzbeh, shared the Golden Pen in the adults’ poetry category during the awards ceremony held at the Tehran Book Garden on Thursday.

“Evaluation of Historical Sources of the Shahnameh” by Farzin Ghafuri and “Localization of Magic Realism in Iran” by Mohammad and Mohsen Hanif shared the Golden Pen in the review and research section. 

The jury of the Golden Pen Awards, which is organized every year by the Iran Pen Association, celebrated other works in other categories with honorable mentions.

“Big Candy” by Tayyebeh Shamani received an honorable mention in the children’s poetry section, and “Dream of Panther” by Hadi Hakimian won an honorable mention in the children’s novel section.

In the adult’s best novel category, “Rain of Raspberries” by Mostafa Falegari and “After 20 Years” by Salman Karimi were honored. 

The organizers also honored Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the director of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, as the Literary Figure of the Year.

Haddad-Adel is also the director of the Sadi Foundation, a Tehran-based organization that provides Persian language educational services abroad.

“I have been a member of the association from the first day of its establishment, but I never thought in all these ceremonies there would be an honoring ceremony for me,” Haddad-Adel said after accepting his award.

He paid tribute to his teachers and family members and added, “I have studied philosophy, but the Persian language has always been my love in life.”

He called Persian the second language of the world of Islam and said, “If we lose our language we will lose our minds. We have had different local languages and dialects and nobody should feel malice towards them. All the people throughout history used to exchange knowledge and thoughts through the Persian language.”

Haddad-Adel’s collection of poetry entitled “Still Again” was published in 2016. The book contains all different types of poetry.

“I wanted to publish poetry about the people and the characters I like. For a long time, I had tried to compose a poem about the Prophet Muhammad (S); I also composed a poem for Imam Hussein (AS) and now they are here in the book,” Haddad-Adel said at that time.

Photo: Academy of Persian Language and Literature director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel attends the 17th Golden Pen Awards on July 4, 2019 that honored him as the Literary Figure of the Year. (IQNA/Hassan Aqamohammadi) 

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