Unless otherwise marked with KH (initials of Kaiser Haq), the passages below are translated from Farsi text by myself. Farsi text: Mirza I’tisam al-Din. Shigarfnamah Vilayet. Toronto: Foundation for Iranian Studies, 2014. A brief account of the coming of the…
Initials indicate translator. GH stands for Gita Hashemi. KH stands for Kaiser Haq. Where both initials appear indicates that the passage is based on KH’s version but substantively modified by GH. My translation is based on the Farsi version, publication…
Passages from Shigarfnamah (also spelled as Shigurfnamah) that will be included in all the upcoming posts are my own translations based on the Farsi original, a draft of which was kindly sent to me by Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi. The Farsi…
I’m currently culling material from different sources for the performance script focusing on Mirza I’tisam al-Din. My aim is to have a full draft for this persona by the end of this week. From translator’s introduction in: Mirza Sheikh I’tesamuddin.…
Currently in development, Passages is a multi-platform body of work that draws from real and imagined travelogues written during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries by Persianate travelers. Contact between the Persianate world (ethno-culturally diverse societies in south, west and…
Slowly working my way through piles of primary material (travelogues and memoirs) and secondary material (academic articles and books), I’ve realized that my work in developing the script for the performances is more like that of a historical fiction writer.…
A series of lectures at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology looks at some famous historical voyages and travelers. This one by Paul Cobb is about Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan who traveled vast distances across Asia and Africa in the…
اولین سفیر ایران در آمریکا حسینقلی خان صدر السلطنه بود که درسال ۱۲۶۷ شمسی توسط ناصر الدین شاه به واشنگتن فرستاده شد. او فرزند میرزا آفا خان نوری، وزیر اعظم دوم ناصرالدین شاه بود. علی حاتمی، نویسنده و کارگردان پرکار…
Yeap. Sadly, the project was not selected for Summerworks Live Arts series. I now have to start a new search for a venue. Definitely open to suggestions.
Reflections prompted by a lecture by Ahmad Karimi-Hakak about Persian literary production in India. The lecture is in Farsi but my thoughts are not specific to his lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4XUKMCH5k0 I’ve been revamping and stretching my imagination of “Iran” and “Persian”…