TEHRAN – Eight books have received nominations at the 17th Golden Pen Awards, the organizers announced on Monday.

“Where There Is No Name” that contains over 50 love songs by Yusefalai Mirshakak is one of the nominees. 

Another highlight is writer Mohammadreza Ruzbeh’s book “From Being Cocoon to Becoming Butterfly”, which carries simple strategies for a better and more beautiful life. 

Poet Ali Davudi’s travelogue of Lebanon “Published in Beirut” and Reza Yazdani’s poetry collection “Denial” on social, ritual and revolutionary topics are among the nominees this year.

Also included are “Ra Ra” by Pantea Safai, “Songless Years” by Mohammadreza Torki, “You Called Me” by Leila Hosseinnia and “Considerations” by Omid Mehdinejad.

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

The winners are scheduled to be honored during a ceremony at the Tehran Book Garden on Thursday.

Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the director of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, will also be honored as the Literary Figure of the Year at the ceremony.

Haddad-Adel is also the director of the Sadi Foundation, a Tehran-based organization that provides Persian language educational services abroad.

His collection of poetry entitled “Still Again” was published in 2016. The book contains all different types of poetry.

“I wanted to publish poetry about the people and the characters I like. For a long time, I had tried to compose a poem about the Prophet Muhammad (S); I also composed a poem for (the third Imam of the Shia) Imam Hussein (AS) and now they are here in the book,” Haddad-Adel said.

Last year, the 16th edition of the awards honored “Gildad”, a story that presents a panorama of the folk culture of the northern Iranian region of Gilan, as best novel.

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

Photo: An image of the Golden Pen trophies.

RM/MMS/YAW