The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) has released a book series to raise children’s awareness of the species at risk of extinction in Iran.
Children above nine are the target audience of the series titled “Hey! Take Care of Us”. It is composed of 11 books written and illustrated by different authors and artists coordinated by Zohreh Parirokh.
Nine books of the series include “Run, Run, Run!”, “Who Had Stuck the Letter on the Glass?”, “Who…? Where…? and…”, “The Little Big-Eared”, “Persian Fallow Deer”, “Believe, I’m a Turtle”, “Fear… Fear… Fear”, “The Last Iranian Ground-Jay of the Big Plain” and “Call Me Salamander”.
In this series, children learn about Iran’s wildlife species that are increasingly threatened with extinction. The animals take children to their world, telling them why and how they have faced the tribulation.
“Hey! Take Care of Us” also teach the children how to help the environment and the animals. The books center on Persian onager, Persian fallow deer, turtle, salamander, Pleske’s ground jay, Asiatic cheetah and a number of other animals.
Parirokh, Tahere Ibad, Minu Karimzadeh, Mohammadreza Marzuqi, Sorur Kotobi, Mostafa Rahmandoost, Susan Taqdis, Mohammadreza Shams and Farhad Hassanzadeh are the writers of the nine books of the series.
The books have been illustrated by Ali Nurpur, Majdi Saberinejad, Fereshteh Jafari-Farmand, Reza Maktabi, Babak Amel-Qarib, Parvin Heidarzadeh, Sanaz Zamani and Hadis Jazayeri, and Majid Kazemi and Ali Khodai have collaborated as graphic designers.
The IIDCYA has previously published numerous books to raise children’s knowledge of the environment and wildlife.
In January 2019, British children’s book writer Leon Gray’s series “Animal Scientists” was published in Persian by the institute. Composed of five books, “Animal Scientists” combines ecology with simple scientific principles so young readers can see how animals have adapted to cope with their environment and how they relate to other animals. The series explores animals’ use of science and engineering to overcome environmental challenges such as escaping predators, making a shelter, finding food and finding a mate.
The Great Famine & Genocide in Iran: 1917-1919
By (author) Mohammad Gholi Majd
At least 8-10 million Iranians out of a population of 18-20 million died of starvation and disease during the famine of 1917-1919. The Iranian holocaust was the biggest calamity of World War I and one of the worst genocides of the 20th century, yet it remained concealed for nearly a century. The 2003 edition of this book relied primarily on US diplomatic records and memoirs of British officers who served in Iran in World War I, but in this edition these documents have been supplemented with US military records, British official sources, memoirs, diaries of notable Iranians, and a wide array of Iranian newspaper reports. In addition, the demographic data has been expanded to include newly discovered US State Department documents on Iran’s pre-1914 population. This book also includes a new chapter with a detailed military and political history of Iran in World War I. A work of enduring value, Majd provides a comprehensive account of Iran’s greatest calamity.
Milkvetch and Violets,
Poems by Mohammad Reza Shafi’i-Kadkani
(Selected and Translated by Mojdeh Bahar)
This is a delightful little poetry book to brighten a day. Each poem seems to make you feel hope through nature and its seasons. What I found most rewarding about the selection is one did not have to delve into a deep meaning of the words to understand their significance. Each poem is sweet and meaningful on its face.
Century of Cello Music from Persia 1921-2021
(published in the Netherlands)
2021 marks the 100th year since the appearance of the first Persian (Iranian) composition written for the cello. This piece, entitled “Tchahargah”, was written in 1921 by Souren Arakelian, a professor at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. To commemorate this anniversary, the Persian Dutch Network has published an anthology which includes cello works by four generations of Persian composers between the years 1921 to 2021.
Compiled by Pejman Akbarzadeh, these compositions have mostly been collected and restored from the private archives in Tehran, Paris, and Montreal. “A delay in working on this anthology could mean losing the first Persian cello pieces”, Akbarzadeh told BBC. “Early manuscripts were in poor condition and had to be preserved for posterity.” he added.
It is hoped that by publishing the anthology, public awareness will be raised on Persian cello music, a genre that has been ignored until now in the world of music. Another goal is to encourage the cellists around the world to perform these neglected but amazing pieces.
“A Century of Cello Music from Persia: 1921-2021” includes the following pieces:
- Tchargah (1921) Souren Arakelian
- Shur (1953) Hossein Nassehi
- Sonate (1965) Alireza Mashayekhi
- Dialogue (1973) Sheida Gharachedaghi
- Persian Song (1984) Iradj Sahbai
- Oriental (1992) Mehran Rouhani
- Elegy (1998) Behzad Ranjbaran
- Sonata for Cello and Piano (2003) M. Reza Tafazzoli
- Sonata for cello and Piano (2012) Rebecca Ashooghian
- Persian Folk Songs (2017) Reza Vali
- A capella (2017) Alireza Farhang
- Rapture (2017) Kaveh Mirhosseini
- Avaz-e Jaan (2019) Shahab Paranj
- Persian Suite (2021) Kazem Davoudian
- Ctesiphon (2021) Mehdi Hosseini
The libraries and academic institutions are welcome to add this anthology to their collection.
For more information please contact: info [at] persiandutch.com
Four Central Asian Shrines
A Socio-Political History of Architecture
R.D. McChesney
(Brill 2021)
Throughout Central Asia, shrines (Muslim) have served as community centers and are an integral part of the cities landscape. In this book the author looks at their architecture through their social history; why was the shrine built, who are responsible for their maintenance and who is attracted to them for pilgrimage of tourism?
Much of the shrine’s history is revealed in its interiors such as the people and/or artifacts buried within and what makes them sacred. After reading this book one will no longer perceive a shrine as simply a building. The walls will speak. An undeniable fact remains, the Muslim shrines located in central Asia were and continue to be places of beauty. The intricacy and use of mosaic tiles are always breathtaking.