Organized by the Italian ‘Internazionale’ magazine and the Iranian ‘Na Dastan’ magazine, the cultural gathering featured short stories of Iranian contemporary literature, published in the latest edition of ‘Internazionale’, esteri.it reported.
The event was attended by Mohammad Tolouei, Iranian journalist, writer and editor-in-chief of “Na Dastan”, Francesca Gnetti, journalist of the Middle East Section of the “Internazionale”, and translator Giacomo Longhi, along with writers Ali Khodaei, Mahsa Mohebali, Bita Malakuti, Alieh Ataei, Arash Sadeqbeigi, photographer Mozhdeh Nourmohammadi and cartoonists Meysam Barza and Rambod Khanlari.
The special report was presented by Mohammad Tolouei, who curated the selection of Iranian stories to portray an image of Iran, as multifaceted and varied that is mostly unknown among the Italian public, through stories by writers who are interlinked by an arc of time that spans from pre-revolutionary Iran through the Iran-Iraq war, up to the present.
The stories published by Internazionale are very different from one another, but they all have a common thread in their focus on the daily lives of ordinary Iranian people, said the Italian ambassador in his introductory remarks, according to IRNA.
The individual experiences of each of the writers and their main characters appear intertwined in their narrations, poems and photographs through time and space, so as to bring the reader closer to contemporary Iran, Perrone added.
“What came out is a very truthful and authentic image of contemporary Iran for the enjoyment of the Italian public,” he concluded.
The reading event is part of a series of initiatives by the Italian Embassy in Tehran on Italian and Iranian literature aimed at highlighting the historical literary ties between the two countries.
This year the literary programs by the Italian Embassy in Tehran will include the celebration of Italy’s revered writer and intellectual Pierpaolo Pasolini, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, as well as many other workshops, translation competitions, screenings and readings on various Iranian and Italian authors.
It is worth mentioning that a book entitled, ‘Iran; Cities, Routes and Caravansaries’ was published in Rome by Iran’s Cultural Office in the Italian capital.
According to the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, the bilingual Persian-Italian book is themed on certain Iranian caravanserais and perspectives of reviving and repairing them, as well as their new applications.
Source: Iran Daily