TEHRAN – Five books are competing in the best review category of the 13th edition of the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards, Iran’s most lucrative literary prize, as the organizers announced nominees for this section on Wednesday.

“Mythology of Love in Iranian Culture” that studies how much love stories have influenced human relations in Iran is one of the nominees. Bahman Namvar-Motlaq is the author of the book published by Sokhan Publications.

Another nominee is “History of the Body in Literature” by Seyyed Mehdi Zarqani. In this book published by Sokhan, Zarqani writes, “It is impossible to find any other phenomenon that can occupy inside and outside of the life of man as much as the body; the body is present everywhere from the most complex divine matters to the simplest ordinary issues.” 

“Epic of Musayyebnameh”, a book about Musayyeb ibn Qaqa Khazai, a companion of Imam Ali (AS) and his sons Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein (AS), is competing in this section.
 
The book written by Mohammad-Baqai Vars Bukhari and Abu Taher Tarsusi has been translated and corrected by Milad Jafarpur. The Mahmud Afshar Foundation is the publisher of the book.

The book won the Golden Pen in the Review and Research section of the 18th edition of the Golden Pen Awards in July.

Author Parastu Mohebbi’s “Narratology of Drama” published by Jam-e Zarrin has also received a nomination.

The book gives a review of the Iranian dramas published over the past three decades, and provides new insights into the psychological concepts and narrative elements in the dramas.

Another nominee is Ahamd Shakeri’s “Philosophy of the Story of Story” that explores the history of studies on narrative arts in Iran.   

Earlier last week, the organizers announced that they have received 1879 titles of books. 

Ebrahim Mohammad Hassanbeigi, Hamid Hessam, Mohammadreza Sharafi-Khabushan, Mostafa Jamshidi, Ali Changizi, Abolfazl Horri, Morteza Sarhangi, Maryam Moshref and Mohammadreza Bayrami are the members of the selecting committee for the prize. 

Ebrahim Mohammad Hassanbeigi will also be collaborating as the academic secretary. 

This year, books written on the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which is known as the Sacred Defense in Iran, will be reviewed to honor the top works of the past four decades.

Photo: A poster for the 13th edition of the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards.

MMS/YAW