TEHRAN -- Turan Mirhadi, a veteran children’s literature scholar and co-founder of the Children’s Book Council, died on Tuesday after she went into a coma following a stroke on September 17. She was 89.

Messages of condolence poured in from officials and literary figures, including the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri, and Tehran’s Book House director Majid Gholami Jaliseh, Persian media reported on Wednesday.

“The death of the eternal figure in Persian literature, Mirhadi, was a great loss. She had made great efforts in promoting the culture of this land for over 60 years. Her works, which are so deep and influential, have all turned out to be a precious and lasting experience,” reads part of the message.

“The establishment of the Farhad School with its new modern education, and making efforts in founding Children’s Book Council and the Encyclopedia of Children and Young Adults are among the praiseworthy works by Mirhadi,” the message added.

Mirhadi was a graduate of educational psychology at the Sorbonne University and had specifically focused on preschool education and tried to promote children’s culture and literature for over 60 years.

Turan and her husband Mohsen Khomarlu established Farhad School, a progressive kindergarten and elementary school in Tehran in 1955 and ran the school for 25 years.

The Children’s Book Council of Iran had announced Mirhadi as one of the nominees for the 2017 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, a prestigious Swedish honor to promote children’s and youths’ literature in the world.

Her funeral procession will begin at the Iranian Artists Forum on Friday and she will be buried at the family tomb in Imamzadeh Abdollah in Rey, a historical town in southern Tehran.

RM/YAW