Poems by Latvian writer Imants Ziedonis translated into Persian

TEHRAN –(Iranart)- Imants Ziedonis Foundation director Žaneta Jaunzeme-Grende has said that a collection of poems by Latvian writer Imants Ziedonis has been translated into Persian.

Jaunzeme-Grende, who served as the Latvian culture minister from 2011 to 2013, made the remarks in a seminar on Ziedonis and the impression of Persian poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s poetry on Latvian poets in Riga last week, Iran’s Book City Institute has announced in a press release published on Tuesday.

She said that Iranian scholar Hushag Rahnama has translated the collection into Persian and Hermes, a major Iranian publisher based in Tehran, is scheduled to publish the book.

A Latvian delegation is scheduled to attend the unveiling ceremony of the book in Tehran, she added.

She next talked about Rumi’s influence on Ziedonis and Ziedonis’s interest in mysticism.

She said that Ziedonis was familiar with Rumi’s Masnavi-ye Manavi through a Russian translation of the book and was highly influenced by his poetry, having been Ziedonis’ source of inspiration. 

She added that Ziedonis later learned that Rumi’s poetry has been translated into many languages but a Latvian translation was lacking.

She also noted that a selection of Rumi’s poems and Persian poet Sohrab Sepehri’s blank verse will also be translated into Latvian. 

She expressed her hope that a seminar on Ziedonis and Sepehri will be held in Tehran and Riga next year in collaboration with the Book City Institute.

The one-day seminar was organized by Iran’s Book City Institute and the Imants Ziedonis Foundation.

Book City Institute deputy director Ali-Asghar Mohammadkhani visited Riga in August 2018 by invitation of Jaunzeme-Grende to discuss ways to expand cultural relations between the two organizations.

source: Tehran Times