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Deviant Women

Forough Farrokhzad

Season 4, Ep. 19

For over 1000 years, poetry has remained one of the most important traditions of Persian culture. So when, in the mid-twentieth century, a young woman emerged with a voice that spoke with a whirlwind of desire, a voice yearning with love, intimacy, and insight well beyond her years, the establishment was shaken. With a tumultuous love life that saw her become one of Iran's most controversial and scandalous public figures, Farrokhzād suffered under the glaring public eye. But she was also a mother, a filmmaker, and a visionary. Despite her poetry being banned for more than a decade after the Iranian Islamic Revolution, today she is seen as one of Iran's most revered poets, a woman with the audacity to speak taboos in a revolutionary form.


Join us for the last episode of Season Four as we explore one of the most extraordinary poets of the twentieth century. 


Selected References

Dehghan, Saeed Kamali. “Former lover of the poet known as Iran's Sylvia Plath breaks his silence.” The Guardian, Mon 13 Feb, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/12/forough-farrokhzad-iranian-poet-ebrahim-golestan-slyvia-plath

Forugh Farrokhzad: The Rebel Poet of Iran, http://farrokhzadpoems.com/

Forugh Farrokhzad. 2018. https://www.forughfarrokhzad.org/index1.htm

Ghasemi, Parvin, and Farideh Pourgiv. "Captivity, Confrontation, and Self‐Empowerment: identity in Forugh Farrokhzad’s poetry." Women's History Review 19.5 (2010): 759-774.

Hillmann, Michael C., A. Lonely Woman. "Forugh Farrokhzad and Her Poetry." Washington DC: Mage Publishers (1987).

Milani, Farzaneh. "Love and sexuality in the poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad: A reconsideration." Iranian Studies 15.1-4 (1982): 117-128.

Radjy, Amir-Hussein. “Overlooked No More: Forough Farrokhzad, Iranian Poet Who Broke Barriers of Sex and Society.” New York Times, Jan 30, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/obituaries/forough-farrokhzad-overlooked.html

Zubizarreta, John. "The woman who sings no, no, no: Love, freedom, and rebellion in the poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad." World Literature Today 66.3 (1992): 421-426.


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Deviant Women is recorded and produced on the lands of the Kaurna People and we pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

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