France to honor Iran’s Lili Golestan with Order of Academic Palms

TEHRAN -- The Iranian translator and director of the Golestan Gallery in Tehran, Lili Golestan, will be honored with the Order of Academic Palms by France.

 

She will receive the decoration from French Ambassador Bruno Foucher during a ceremony at the Embassy of France in Tehran on November 17, the Persian service of Honaronline announced on Friday.

 

The Order of Academic Palms is an Order of Chivalry of France, which is awarded to distinguished academics and figures in the world of culture and education.

 

Lili Golestan, 70, has translated 40 books, most of which have been republished several times, and has also helped familiarize many people with the world of art at her gallery, which was established in 1988.

 

She is the daughter of Ebrahim Golestan, a prominent writer and filmmaker, and the sister of renowned photojournalist Kaveh Golestan.

 

In the book “The Oral History of the Contemporary Persian Literature: Lili Golestan”, which is her interview with Omid Firuzbakhsh, she said that she was raised in a house that was kind of an art center of Tehran, which was the haunt of renowned poets and artists on Fridays.

 

She left Iran for Paris during her teenage years to study costume and textile design at the National School of Decorative Arts (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs).

 

She later returned to Iran, beginning a career in cloth designing at the Moqaddam Textile Company. Shortly afterward, she worked as a costume designer with troupes performing teleplays. She also was the director of several children’s TV programs.

 

She made her professional debut as a translator in 1969 by her translation of Oriana Fallaci’s “Nothing, and So Be It”, which contains Fallaci’s report on the Vietnam War based on personal experiences. Thereafter, translation became her main profession and she converted part of her home into a bookstore in 1980.

 

In 1988, the bookstore was changed into a gallery, which is still one of Tehran’s major centers for art shows.

 

She translated many books from the world literature into Persian. Among the works are Eugene Ionesco’s “Story Number 3”, Maurice Druon’s “Tistou of the Green Thumbs”, Miguel Angel Asturias’ “The Man that Had it All, All, All”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “The Smell of the Guava Tree” and “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”.

 

Golestan married prominent cinematographer Nemat Haqiqi, but their marriage broke up six years later. She raised children Mani (filmmaker), Sanam and Mahmud by herself.

 

MMS/YAW

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