Iran lit. awards names 2016 winners

The Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Award has wrapped up in the Iranian capital city of Tehran with the celebration of festival winners.

On the birthday anniversary of the renowned Persian writer Jalal Al-e Ahmad, the 9th annual literary award in honor of the occasion wrapped up at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Saturday.

Mohammadreza Bairami’s book ‘Barren’ on the blight of war was picked as the best novel at the festival presenting Iran’s most lucrative literary prize.

‘Barren’ is about a young Iraqi soldier who falls in love with a young woman. Tribal traditions, however, deny their marriage as they are of differing Islamic sects.

Arash Sadeqbeigi’s collection ‘The Bazaar of Good People’ and Mohammad Keshavarz’s ‘The Sand Fox’ shared the award for best short story.

Organizers of the event also dedicated a section to Afghan writers for the first time this year.

The Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards is named after the well-known writer and social critic, who lived between 1923 and 1969.

The famous author’s published writings fill more than twenty volumes, focusing on travel journals, translations, essays, and reviews, not to mention the works of fiction for which he is most admired.

AI/AG