About us
Dorood,
This group aims to build the most active community of Persian speakers and lovers of Persian culture in London.
There will be a wide range of eclectic events exploring this fascinating world while fostering friendships through cinema, theatre, literature, history, gastronomy, art, and music, as well as funky Saturday nights.
It will include a reading club devoted to Persian literature, both in English translation and in Persian.
All nationalities are welcome.
Are you interested in reading world fiction and non-fiction in English, Spanish and French? Join my other groups:
-www.meetup.com/gaia-books
-www.meetup.com/gaia-libros
-www.meetup.com/gaia-livres
-French Art Group (send me a request)
-Instagram: @persian_culture_
-Persian Culture Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EZk35ZbJZ6W6wwyHyuxoS2
درود
این گروه با هدف ایجاد فعالترین جامعهٔ فارسیزبانان و علاقهمندان به فرهنگ فارسی در لندن شکل گرفته است.
رویدادهای متنوع و التقاطیای برگزار خواهد شد که ضمن کاوش این دنیای جذاب، از طریق سینما، تئاتر، ادبیات، تاریخ، خوراکشناسی، هنر و موسیقی به دوستیسازی کمک میکند و همچنین شامل شبهای پرحالوهوای شنبهها نیز خواهد بود.
این گروه شامل یک باشگاه کتابخوانی خواهد بود که به ادبیات فارسی، هم در ترجمهٔ انگلیسی و هم به زبان فارسی، اختصاص دارد.
همهٔ ملیتها خوشآمدند.
Upcoming events
14
Poetry Night
University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place WC1E 7HB, London, GBFailure to follow the event’s guidelines will exclude you from Poetry Nights.
A lyrical, chill pill for the soul! An opportunity to brush on your Persian reading and make friends.
In a world that often feels divided, let’s come together to explore the power of connection and community through poetry. UCL is opening its doors to invite us to a relaxed and inspiring poetry night.
This is a free event. The room is only confirmed half an hour before. Join the Whatsapp group to receive the PDF of the poetry that will be read and room number. Capacity is limited and failure to update your attendance a day before will exclude you from future poetry nights. We‘ll meet at UCL’s reception at 5.51pm. I will not wait for anyone or answer messages past 6pm.
The session is 1 hour long. We’ll gather for a chat after the poetry reading.
Are you interested in reading fiction and non-fiction in French and Spanish, and English? Join me on:
-www.meetup.com/gaia-books
-www.meetup.com/gaia-libros
-www.meetup.com/gaia-livres
-Instagram: @persian_culture_
-Persian Culture Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EZk35ZbJZ6W6wwyHyuxoS210 attendees
Presentation—V&A’s Art from Iran
Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park Highgate Hill N6 5HG, London, GB## This talk will explore the V&A’s rich and varied collection of objects from Iran—a collection which spans thousands of years in many different media and styles.
This is a free talk but you need a reservation.
The V&A, the UK’s foremost museum of art and design, has been collecting art from Iran since the museum’s very beginnings in the 1850s.
Dr Fuchsia Hart, the museum’s Sarikhani Curator for the Iranian Collections, will introduce us to the Jameel Gallery for the Islamic Middle East, where the museum’s most significant objects from Iran can be seen on display.
Highlights include the remarkable 10-metre-long Ardabil Carpet which was woven c.1539, one of the world's oldest dated, largest, and most historically significant Persian carpets, most likely as a royal commission, and mesmerising lustre-glazed tiles from the 14th century, representing the height of ceramic production in Iran. The collection is still growing today, and now includes important modern and contemporary pieces from Iran, such as the work of contemporary printmakers, which will also be presented in the talk.
Speaker
Fuchsia has been the Sarikhani Curator for the Iranian Collections at the V&A since 2022. She holds a PhD in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford. Her thesis explored the shrine patronage of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar (r.1797-1834) in Iran and Iraq. Currently, her other research and curatorial projects explore painting during the reign of Fath 'Ali Shah, embroidery traditions in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, and the collecting of lustre-glazed tiles from Iran in the UK.Booking details:
https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/arts-of-iran-vaAre you interested in reading fiction and non-fiction in French and Spanish, and English?
www.meetup.com/gaia-books
www.meetup.com/gaia-libros
www.meetup.com/gaia-livres
-Instagram: @persian_culture_
-Persian Culture Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EZk35ZbJZ6W6wwyHyuxoS211 attendees
Talk—Shahnameh: Why Persian Stories Matter
Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park Highgate Hill N6 5HG, London, GB## In this talk, hear how contemporary artists and storytellers, Arsalan Akhavan and Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, are reconceptualising the Iranian epic Shahnameh for contemporary audiences.
Shahnameh, or The Book of Kings, is an epic poem recounting the history of ancient Persia, completed at the start of the 11th century by one of the greatest Persian poets of all time, Ferdowsi. Considered the national epic of Iran and one of the most important Persian texts, Shahnameh is made up of more than 50,000 beautifully composed couplets recounting the heroes, quests and mythical creatures central to Persian culture.
First, join Hollywood producer and cultural storyteller Arsalan Akhavan on a personal journey of discovering the Persian Book of Kings and reimagining its epic stories for a new generation through digital media.
Next, multi-award-winning writer, artist and scholar Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh will talk about her project The Book of Queens, a song cycle in collaboration with composer Emily Hazrati about the queens, women and magical creatures found in The Book of Kings, and how she has, from Ferdowsi's ink well, re-written the characters and stories of this historical epic poem through a contemporary feminist lens.
The talk will conclude with a Q&A with Arsalan and Nazli.
Speakers
Arsalan Akhavan
After learning of his family’s unique connection to a masterpiece edition of the Shahnameh, Arsalan’s life changed forever. He traded sunny California for rainy Britain to launch Rug Entertainment, a multimedia company dedicated to making Persian stories both accessible and engaging for English-speaking audiences. Arsalan’s roots in entertainment trace back to the 1950s, when his grandfather, Mostafa Akhavan, founded Cinema Moulin Rouge, Iran’s first major film studio bridging Hollywood, Cannes, and Tehran. Arslan’s recent projects include Healing History, an immersive art history exhibition; The Good Iranian, a one-man show performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (dir. Sepy Baghaei); Shahnameh Quest, a storytelling podcast; and Billion Dollar Masterpiece, a documentary short about the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasb. He previously served as Director of Scripted TV Development at Lesli Linka Glatter’s Backyard Pictures with Universal Television and worked in the TV Packaging department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Arsalan has also spoken on the Shahnameh at Cambridge University and the House of Lords. He holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
For more information about Arsalan, please visit the Rug Entertainment website.Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh
Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh BSc. Hons, MLitt, MA, SFHEA is a multi-award-winning international leader and collaborator working across artistic disciplines and contexts in opera, theatre, dance, visual arts, film and performance poetry. Her credits include Royal Ballet and Opera, Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Opera, Britten Pears and Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Song, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Atmosphere Festival, Tete a Tete, National Theatre of Scotland, Traverse Theatre, Bush Theatre and City Theater Tehran. At the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she is Professor of Dramatic Writing on the MA in Opera Making & Writing, and she is the inaugural practice-based Post Graduate Researcher in Libretto. She is the inaugural Associate Artist at the Oxford School of Drama and is an External Examiner for the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Her work as a coach, mentor and facilitator spans Clore Leadership, IETM and Edinburgh Performing Arts Development. For the International Society of Performing Arts (ISPA), based in New York, of which she is an Arts Council England Grad Fellow, she serves as a member of the Governance Committee. Her ever-evolving portfolio of new work and reinterpretations of existing work is infused by her country of birth, Iran, and is interwoven by the cultures she reconnects with locally across the UK and internationally across continents.
For more information about Nazli, you can check out you can check out her Instagram and Twitter profiles.This is a free event but you need to reserve a spot. Reservation details:
https://www.lauderdalehouse.org.uk/whats-on/shahnameh-reunitedAre you interested in reading fiction and non-fiction in French Spanish, and English?
www.meetup.com/gaia-books
-www.meetup.com/gaia-libros
-www.meetup.com/gaia-livres
-Instagram: @persian_culture_
-Persian Culture Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EZk35ZbJZ6W6wwyHyuxoS211 attendees
Iranian Women’s Voices
British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB, GBWriters Mosaic presents an evening of conversation, poetry, film and music with writers Marjorie Lotfi, Sana Nassari and Shara Atashi and Iranian musicians, as well as the extraordinary photography of Hengameh Golestan, which documents women protesting the oppression of the Iranian authorities.
For generations and with great courage, women in Iran have protested against the restrictions imposed on them. The chants of ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ have never diminished.
In the new publication Iranian Women’s Voices, creative women from Iran and the diaspora reflect on art, the constraints of present-day Iran and dreams for the future, inspired by the ‘The Rebel Poet of Iran’, filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967).
We’ll hang around after the event for a chit chat.
Booking details:
https://events.bl.uk/events/iranian-womens-voicesMibinamet!
مونیکاAre you interested in reading fiction and non-fiction in French and Spanish, and English?
-www.meetup.com/gaia-books
-www.meetup.com/gaia-libros
-www.meetup.com/gaia-livres
-Instagram: @persian_culture_
-Whatsapp group:
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EZk35ZbJZ6W6wwyHyuxoS29 attendees
Past events
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