TEHRAN – Iran Pen Association organized the 20th edition of its annual Golden Pen Awards on Tuesday evening while no books were winners in the categories of Adult Story and Review and Research.

In the Adult Story section, “Faces of Silence” by Mohammad Qaemkhani was granted an honorable mention, but no work could satisfy the jury in the Review and Research category.

“Faces of Silence” centers on the differences arising from land, books and race in the history of Judaism.  

The Golden Pen for best adult poetry was shared by “The Apostate” by Mehdi Jahandar and “The Very First Wheat” by Abbas Baqeri.

Poems in “The Apostate” voice criticism at people of modern society, which have forgotten their egos. The poet calls on them to do something for a change.

“Mr. Neighbor and I” by Alireza Motevalli and “Nanny Arbaeen and the Wonderful Bag” by Sana Saqafi shared the award in the Children’s Story section.

“Mr. Neighbor and I” tells the story of Afsaneh, a 17-year-old girl whose life is affected after her father dies from an illness. Struggles with problems make her doubtful about her religious issues.    

“Nanny Arbaeen and the Wonderful Bag” is about a kind old woman namely Nanny Arbaeen who has everything in her wonderful bag to help others.

“Commissioned Poetry” by Afsaneh Shabannejad won the Golden Pen for the Children’s Poetry section.

In this poetry book, the chief editor of a magazine calls a poet to request the composition of a quatrain for the poetry column of the journal.  

The Golden Pen Awards is organized every year on the 14th of the month of Tir, which fell on 5 July this year, as part of Iran’s celebration for Pen Day in the Iranian calendar.

This year’s awards ceremony held at the Shohadaye Enqelabe Eslami Cultural Center in Tehran was attended by Iran Pen Association director Mohsen Parviz, Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs Yaser Ahmadvand and several other cultural officials.

In his short speech, Parviz announced the association’s plan to hold review sessions for the winning books on TV programs, and said that the association needs support from the public sector to better accomplish its mission.

In his address to the literati attending the awards ceremony, Ahmadvand asked them to help maintain the Persian language as a major element in Iranians’ identity.

Pedram Pak-Aiin, a member of the association, lamented the lack of book reading among Iranian people.

He said that people have missed their opportunity for reading in the wake of the development of virtual social networks.

Photo: Writer Sana Saqafi (R) accepts the award for best children’s story for her book “Nanny Arbaeen and the Wonderful Bag” at the Golden Pen Awards in Tehran on July 5, 2022. (Mehr/Arshideh Shahangi)

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