Simin Daneshvar, prominent Iranian novelist and translator passed away on the evening of March 8 at the age of 90 at her home.

Simin Daneshvar is considered modern Iran’s first female novelist and an icon in contemporary Persian literature.

She was born in Shiraz in 1921 and studied literature in Tehran University. One of the oldest members of Iranian Association of Writers, she began her career writing articles for Radio Tehran and newspapers. In 1948, she published Atash-e Khamoosh (Quenched Fire), the first collection of short stories by an Iranian woman.

She travelled to the US as a Fulbright Fellow to study creative writing at Stanford University during which time she published two short stories in English.

Back in Iran, she taught at Iran’s College of Fine Arts and University of Tehran retiring in 1980 to dedicate herself to her writing.

Her novel Suvashun published in 1969 became a bestseller for decades going through 16 reprints and translations into 17 languages.

Daneshvar married another prominent Iranian writer Jalal Al-Ahmad in 1950 and their only joint effort a collection of stories and legends entitled Chehel Toti (Forty Parrots) was only recently published.

Daneshvar’s passing on International Women’s Day is an irony of history encapsulating her iconic figure into greater inspiration for the hundreds of Iranian women writers of today for whom she paved the way.

Source : Radio Zamaneh