Simin Daneshvar facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Simin Dāneshvar سیمین دانشور
Born	(1921-04-28)28 April 1921 Fasa, Iran
Died	8 March 2012(2012-03-08) (aged 90) Tehran, Iran
Resting place	Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery
Nationality	Iranian
Alma mater	University of Tehran Stanford University
Occupation	Academic, novelist, fiction writer, literary translator
Spouse(s)	Jalal Al-e-Ahmad (1950−1969, his death)

Simin Dāneshvar (Persian: سیمین دانشور) was an important Iranian writer. She was born on April 28, 1921, and passed away on March 8, 2012. She was a novelist, short story writer, and translator. Many people see her as the first major Iranian woman to write novels.

Her books often showed the lives of regular Iranian people. She especially focused on women's lives. She also wrote about how big political and social events in Iran affected people. Simin Dāneshvar achieved many "firsts." In 1948, she published a collection of short stories. This was the first time an Iranian woman had published such a collection. Her novel, Savushun (also called A Persian Requiem), published in 1966, was the first novel by an Iranian woman. It became a huge bestseller.

Daneshvar's Playhouse is a collection of her translated stories. It was the first time an Iranian woman author's translated stories were put into a book. She was married to the famous Iranian writer Jalal Al-e-Ahmad. She wrote a book called "The Dawn of Jalal" to remember him. Simin Dāneshvar was also a well-known translator. She translated books like "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov. She also translated "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She and Jalal Al-e-Ahmad did not have any children.

Early life and education

Simin Dāneshvar was born on April 28, 1921, in Fasa, Iran. Her father, Mohammad Ali Danesvhar, was a doctor. Her mother was an artist who painted. Simin went to an English-Persian school called Mehr Ain.

In 1938, she started studying Persian literature at the University of Tehran. In 1941, her father passed away. To support herself, she began writing for Radio Tehran. She wrote about cooking and other topics under the name "Nameless Shirazi." She also wrote for a newspaper in Tehran. She could translate from English, which helped her work in the foreign news section.

Writing career and achievements

Simin Dāneshvar started writing when she was young, in 1935. In 1948, when she was 27, she published Atash-e khamoosh (Quenched Fire). This was the first collection of short stories ever published by a woman in Iran. It made her quite famous. However, later in life, she did not want to republish it. She felt the writing was not as good as her later works.

Simin continued her studies at the university. In 1949, she earned her Ph.D. Her paper was about "Beauty as Treated in Persian Literature." In 1950, she married the well-known Iranian writer Jalal Al-e Ahmad. In 1952, she traveled to the United States. She was a Fulbright Fellow at Stanford University. There, she studied creative writing with Wallace Stegner. During her time in the U.S., she wrote and published two short stories in English.

When she came back to Iran, she became a teacher at the University of Tehran. She often translated many books to help support her family. She sometimes earned more money than her husband, Jalal. In 1961, she published "Shahri chun behesht" (A City Like Paradise). This was her second collection of short stories. In 1963, she attended a special summer program at Harvard University. It was a seminar with 40 people from all over the world.

In 1968, she became the leader of the Iranian Writers Union. Her most famous novel, Suvashun, was published in 1969. Her husband passed away in the same year. Simin Dāneshvar continued teaching at the university. She became the head of the Department of Art History and Archaeology. She taught there from the 1970s until she retired in 1981.

Later life and passing

In 2005, Simin Dāneshvar was admitted to a hospital in Tehran. She had serious breathing problems. After a month, she was released in August 2005. She passed away at her home in Tehran on March 8, 2012. She had been sick with the flu.

Her funeral was held on March 11. She was buried at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery.

Her works and themes

As a writer and translator, Simin Dāneshvar wrote with great understanding. She focused on the lives of Iranian women.

Her most successful book was Savushun. It is a novel about life in and around her hometown of Fasa. It was published in 1969. It is one of the best-selling Persian novels ever. It has been reprinted many times and translated into many languages. She also wrote for magazines like Sokhan and Alefba.

In 1981, she finished a book about her husband, Jalal Al-e Ahmad. It was called Ghoroub-e Jalal (The Sunset of Jalal's Days).

Dāneshvar's stories show real life, not fantasy. They cover topics like child theft, marriage, birth, sickness, and death. She also wrote about dishonesty, lack of education, poverty, and feeling alone. The problems she wrote about were social issues from the 1960s and 1970s. These topics felt very real to her readers. She found inspiration from the people around her. She once said: "Simple people have much to offer. They must be able to give freely and with peace of mind. We, too, in return, must give to them to the best of our abilities. We must, with all our heart, try to help them acquire what they truly deserve."

See also

In Spanish: Simin Daneshvar para niños