TEHRAN – “Salvation” (“Rahesh”), Reza Amirkhani’s novel about the consequences of urban development for a young couple that live in Tehran, was picked as best novel at the 11th Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards on Saturday.

Amirkhani received his award from Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi during a ceremony held at the National Library and Archives of Iran. 

He dedicated the entire 1 billion rial (about $24,000) cash prize to the Danayar Research Institute, which provides educational services for teachers and schoolchildren in remote towns, in particular in the Sistan-Baluchestan region.

The Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards, Iran’s most lucrative literary prize, annually selects and awards a number of books in different categories. Each winner is awarded a trophy and 30 Bahar Azadi gold coins worth over 1.1 billion rials (over $27,000).

However, the culture ministry, which is the main organizer of the awards, decided to present the winners the equivalent of 30 Bahar Azadi gold coins.

This year, the jury did not consider any winners for other categories, and books from the nominees only received honorable mentions as well as one-third of the 1 billion rial cash prize.

In the documentation section, the cash prize was shared by “Alef Laam Khomeini” by Hedayatollah Behbudi and “Biking to Find Shams” by Hassan Karami Qaramaleki.

“Lion’s Wound” by Samad Taheri won the honorable mention in the short story collection section and “The Eloquence of Syntactic Structures in the History of Beyhaqi” by Leila Seyyedqasem received the honorable mention in the review section.   

MMS/YAW