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Parvaneh Bahar, beloved daughter of the great Malek o'Shoara Bahar, will speak of her experiences as a woman and the daughter of a prominent popular cultural hero and revered poet in pre-revolutionary Iran. She will offer insights about the Shah’s Iran, her experiences working for civil rights and women's rights in the USA, and her father's living legacy as a powerful living force in green movement activities today.
As the daughter of this famous but persecuted writer, academic and politician, Parvaneh grew up amidst the intellectual and political turmoil of her father’s involvement in the democracy movement in Iran. Suffering through his imprisonments, sharing his exile, and accompanying him to Switzerland to seek a cure for his tuberculosis, she absorbed his teaching and his passion for the freedom and dignity of all people. These themes became a template for her own life, and she carried them with her when she came to the US in the 1950s as the young wife of a diplomat, learning the ropes as a Washington hostess while throwing herself into the Women’s Movement and marching behind Dr. Martin Luther King in Alabama.
Parvaneh's memoir, The Poet's Daughter, portrays Iran in the early and mid-20th century and the vital role her father played as the "King of Poets". He is still revered as the greatest poet and visionary of the 20th century. In street protests in 2009, street demonstrators sang his poems of freedom. Her life has been dedicated to fighting for social justice for all including equal rights for women. She was recently invited to be the keynote speaker at the Iranian-American Women's conference in Washington D.C. and Irvine, CA.
* This talk will be followed by a book signing with the author at the Harvard COOP *
Book signing: 6:30 pm
Harvard COOP
1400 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact: Liz Flanagan