TEHRAN – Two Iranian organizations have jointly established a literary award named after the children’s writer Mehdi Azar Yazdi (1921-2009), the author of the Persian bestseller “Good Stories for Good Children”.
The Children’s Book Council of Iran and the Mirza Mohammad Kazemeini Cultural Studies Office unveiled the award during a ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday.
The awards are to be given annually to the best rewrites of Persian classic literature authored for children and young adults.
A number of literati and cultural figures including Director of Children’s Book Council of Iran Nushafarin Ansari, and Persian literature expert and scholar of Islamic science Mehdi Mohaqqeq attended the ceremony.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ansari said that Azar Yazdi was one of the founders of the council and spent most of his life in rewriting books for children.
“Azar Yazdi knew the inner child of all of us and he was quite familiar with children’s characters, the combination of the two helped him create the very first rewrites of old Persian texts,” she added.
Mohaqqeq next made a brief speech and emphasized that there needs to be a serious attempt to help introduce Persian scholars and luminaries to children.
Azar Yazdi passed away at the age of 88 in Tehran in July 2009.
His eight-volume stories “Good Stories for Good Children” earned him national fame.
The collection provides children with access to the great works of classical Persian literature such as the Gulistan (The Rose Garden), the Masnavi-ye Manavi, the Marzban-Nameh, the Sinbadnameh, and selected stories from the Holy Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (S) and his Household (AS).
The collection won a UNESCO prize in 1966 and was selected as Iran’s book of the year in 1967. In addition, his “Adam” won the title in 1968.
His credits also included “The Naughty Cat”, “The Playful Cat”, “Simple Stories”, “Poetry of Sugar and Honey” and “Masnavi of Good Children”.
RM/YAW
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