The Academy of Persian Language and Persianate Culture
Forugh Farrokhzad’s Life and Works: A Deep Dive into Her Feminist Poetry
Domenico Arturo Ingenito
Associate Professor of Iranian Studies and Persian Literature,
University of California, Los Angeles
About the course:
This course offers an introductory deep dive into the life and works of Forugh Farrokhzad, the iconoclastic poet, feminist intellectual and filmmaker whose modernist voice scandalized 20th-century Iran. The sessions are designed for readers of Persian of all levels (basic, intermediate, advanced, and native speakers) as well as students who have no prior experience with this language and are interested in accessing Farrokhzad’s poetry in English translation. Readings and assignments, both in Persian and English, will be adapted to the individual needs and expectations of each student.
Heavily censored in Iran and only partially available on the internet, Farrokhzad’s collected poems have been published for the first time as an annotated critical edition by Domenico Ingenito in 2023. The course will rely on both Ingenito’s critical edition of the original Persian texts and a number of seminal studies and English translations (Michael Hillmann, Nasrin Rahimieh, Dominic Brookshaw, Elizabeth Gray, Shole Wolpe, Farzaneh Milani, etc.).
During the first four sessions, we will explore Farrokhzad’s formative years in the socio-political context of Iran between the 1940s and 1950s, especially through the lens of the poet’s first two collections, Asir (Prisoner) and Divar (The Wall). The second part of the course is devoted to the study of Farrokhzad’s relationship with classical Persian poetry as well as European literature, along with in-depth analyses of her controversial collection, ‘Osyan (Rebellion), and her travelogue to Europe (Dar Diyari Digar). The last four sessions will be entirely dedicated to the study of Farrokhzad’s most well-known works: Tavallodi Digar (Another Birth) and the posthumous collection, Iman biyavarim be aghaz-e fasl-e sard (Let’s Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season). During the third part of the course, we will also discuss Farrokhzad’s literary output against her film, Khane siyah ast (The House is Black), her letters, translations, and radio interviews.
Level: all levels of Persian (basic, intermediate and advanced), but also open to students with no prior knowledge of the language.
About the instructor:
Domenico Ingenito is Associate Professor of Iranian Studies and premodern Persian Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, Bahari Fellow in the Persian Arts of the Book (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), core faculty member of the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World, and former director of the UCLA Program on Central Asia (2016-2021). His research interests center on ancient and medieval Iran, Persian poetry, visual culture of Iran and Central Asia, gender and translations studies, and premodern manuscript culture. His most recent articles are: “Hafez’s ‘Shirāzi Turk’: A Geopoetical Approach (Iranian Studies)” and “‘A Marvelous Painting’: The Erotic Dimension of Saʿdi’s Praise Poetry” (Journal of Persianate Studies). His most recent book is Beholding Beauty: Saʿdi of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry (Brill, 2020, reviews appeared in Iranian Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle Eastern Literatures, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies). His Italian translation of Forugh Farrokhzad’s collected poems, along with all original texts, will be published in 2023 by Bompiani. He is currently working on an English translation of a selection of Saʿdi’s poems (University of California Press) and a monograph on ancient Iranian kingship, poetic creativity, and homoeroticism in the context of late antique epic cycles and court poetry. Professor Ingenito co-leads the UCLA Afghan Scholars at Risk program, which aims to bring to campus scholars and writers who face repression in Afghanistan.
Course Details
Schedule: Mondays, 22 June - 7 September, 2026
Time: 10:30–11:30 AM (US Pacific), 1:30–2:30 PM (US Eastern), 8:30–9:30 PM (Central European)
Format: 12 online sessions
Tuition: $300 (payable in installments)
Class days and times may be adjusted in accordance with the request of enrollees.
Registered participants will receive full access to recorded session videos and all course materials.