Tehran to host intl. congress on poet Shahriar

TEHRAN,July 15(MNA) – Tehran will be playing host in September to an international congress on the Iranian poet Mohammad-Hossein Behjat (1906-1988), who wrote under the pseudonym Shahriar. The two-day congress will open on September 17, which is the National Persian Poetry and Literature Day. The day also marks National Shahriar Day. A total of 120 articles by Iranian scholars and 40 articles by foreign experts have been submitted to the congress at Milad Tower. The event will focus on the language of Shahriar in the poem Heidar Baba, Shahriar and his influence on Azeri literature, Shahriar and blank verse and the role of Shahriar on unity among nations. The scholars and literati invited to congress will leave Tehran for the village of Khoshkenab near Tabriz to commemorate Shahriar in his birthplace on September 19 and 20. Shahriar, whose poems are mainly influenced by Hafez, wrote in Persian and Azeri. His most famous poem, “Heidar Babaya Salam”, is considered to be among the best modern poems in the Azeri language.