Historical novels share Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Award

TEHRAN – Mohammad-Kazem Mazinani and Abutorab Khosravi have shared the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Award in novel category for “The Ah with a Sheen” and “Angels of Punishment”, which both focus on part of contemporary Iranian history.

 

The award consists of 110 Bahar Azadi gold coins and each writer received 55 Bahar Azadi gold coins during a ceremony at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on Monday.

 

The award, named after the prominent Iranian writer Jalal Al-e Ahmad (1923-1969), is Iran’s most lucrative literary award. Each winner in the four categories of fiction, short stories, memoirs and literary reviews receives 110 Bahar Azadi gold coins.

 

“The Ah with a Sheen” is a second part of a trilogy about the political life of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. “The Shah without a Sheen” is the first part of the trilogy. 

 

The title of “The Shah without a Sheen” is a play on words. Sheen is a letter of the Persian alphabet that represents the sound of “sh” in English. Only “ah” remains if the “sh” is dropped from the word “shah”. “Ah” means sorrow in Persian. “Ah” with a “sheen” makes the Persian word “shah”.

 

“Angels of Punishment” narrates the lives of three generations in an Iranian family, whose fates are tied together. A major part of the story is set in the 1950s when Iran witnessed major political events.

 

In the memoir category, the prize was also shared by “Prison of Rashid” (Mohammad-Mehdi Behdarvand) and “Passed Journey” (Mohammadreza Tavakoli Saberi).

 

In addition, 110 gold coins of the literary critic section went to Hossein Payandeh for his book “Opening a Novel”.

 

The jury did not select a winner in the short story category.

 

A large number of literati including Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati attended the ceremony.

 

In his short Jannati speech asked the organizers to invite authors from Persian speaking countries to compete in the coming editions of the awards.

 

 

RM/YAW

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