Rebellion: The life and work of Forough Farrokhzad

In this month's Resonance 104.4fm show, Juliet talks to poetry, editor and academic Golnoosh Nour about the life and work of Iranian poet, writer and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad (1935-67). Featuring plenty of readings from Farrokhzad's work (in the original Farsi and English translation by Sholeh Wolpé), Juliet and Golnoosh talk about Farrokhzad's early life and emergence on the post-war Iranian poetry scene, how her erotic feminist poetry scandalised the literary establishment, and her interest in traditional Persian literature. They discuss her only film, the short documentary The House is Black (1962) about a leper colony in Tabriz, northwest Iran; her relationship with filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan; and her influence on later Iranian filmmakers. Finally, they talk about Farrokhzad's enduring legacy in Iran despite her work being banned after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and her influence on Golnoosh's poetry.