TEHRAN – “Gildad”, a story that presents a panorama of the folk culture of the northern Iranian region of Gilan, has been selected as best novel at the 16th Golden Pen Awards.

Hassan Qolipur is the author of the novel published by Sureh-Mehr in March 2017.

Iran’s Pen Association is the organizer of the Golden Pen Awards, which are presented in five categories.

The Golden pen for best children’s novel went to “A Simple Account of a Difficult Story” by Ebrahim Hassanbeigi.

“The Blind Drunk of Vine Shade” by Morteza Amiri-Esfadaqeh received the Golden pen in the adults’ poetry category while “Aban in Traffic” by Davud Lotfollah won the Golden Pen in the children’s poetry section.

The Golden Pen in the review and research section was presented to “A Research on Sci-Fi Literature and Thoughts”, a book series by Ahmad Qosa.

In a brief speech made during the awards ceremony, Pen Association director Mohammadreza Sarshar said that the Golden Pen Award is the highest of old-line non-governmental honors and added that although he had not been in agreement with the books selected by the juries in some cases, he has always respected their views.

“There is no collusion between the members of the jury to select the winners,” he noted.

Photo: Hassan Qolipur (R) receives the award for best novel from Academy of Persian Language and Literature director Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel during the Golden Pen Awards in Tehran on July 5, 2018. Pen Association director Mohammadreza Sarshar is also seen in the photo. (Fars/Hossein Mersadi)

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