TEHRAN – Abtin Golkar, the Persian translator of “A Nest of the Gentlefolk” by Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev (1818 – 1883), has received the first Abolhassan Najafi Award.

The award was established in the name of Abolhassan Najafi (1930-2016), the linguist and translator of French literature, by his family members last year and will be given to the best translation of a novel every year.

The award including a medal bearing the image of Najafi in addition to five Bahar Azadi gold coins was presented to the 39-year-old Golkar, who is also a Russian literature and language researcher, during a ceremony at the Book City Institute on Tuesday.

“Heart of a Dog” (Mikhail Bulgakov) and “Inspector General” (Nikolai Gogol) are among other translations by Golkar.

The jury members included Zia Movahhed, Ali Masumi Hamedani, Abdollah Kowsari, Mahasti Bahreini, Madmud Hosseinzad and Mojdeh Daqiqi. 

Najafi died of pneumonia at the age of 86 on January 22, 2016. He was a senior member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature with a career spanning over half a century. 

He translated dozens of illustrious works including “The Devil and the Good Lord” by Jean-Paul Sartre, “Antimemoires” by André Malraux and “The Thibaults” by Roger Martin du Gard.

Najafi’s heirs have donated his prestigious personal library to the academy.

Filmmaker Bahman Farmanara, linguist Omid Tabibzadeh and Managing Director of Niloofar Publications Hossein Karimi are among the supporters of the award.

Photo: This file photo shows the Iranian translator shaking hands with President Hassan Rouhani before receiving an award for translation of Russian writer Edvard Radzinsky’s “Stalin” during Iran’s Book of the Year Awards ceremony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on February 9, 2016. (IBNA/Amir Gholami)

RM/YAW