Influential Iranian Women: Farideh Farjam (1939-)

“There was an old woman who lived in a small village. She had a yard the size of a tray and a tree the size of a matchstick. She was a kind and goodhearted old woman. One day at dusk, when the sun had left the village and darkness had taken over the houses, the old woman lighted a lamp, put it on the shelf, draped herself in her chador and went out to get some fresh air and perhaps meet an acquaintance and cheer up a little. Then rain poured down. The sound of the thunder was shaking the dishes on the shelf and the old woman felt cold. She was thinking of laying on her bed and going under the blanket to warm up when somebody pounded on the door: ‘knock, knock, knock!’ And the old woman asked herself: ‘My god!’ Who could be knocking at this time of the night?’”

There are not many Iranian who would not remember the rest of this tale from their childhood — the tale of Uninvited Guests that inspired many other tales and puppet shows and was a cultural heritage in the national memory of Iranians long before it was officially registered as an “Intangible National Cultural Heritage” in 2017.

This tale was first published in 1951 in a collection of folktales by Mehdi Sobhi who for years entertained and captivated children by telling them stories on the radio, but people remember it by the illustration on the cover of the book — an old woman opening the door — published by the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (Kanoon), with the name of the author below the illustration: Farideh Farjam, the first Iranian female playwright.

Farjam was born in Tehran on January 12, 1939. After she finished her primary education in Tehran and started high school, her parents sent her to Paris to complete her high school education in the City of Lights.

She was still very young when she returned from Paris, but soon she started writing and her short stories were published from 1951 to 1956 in some of the most important literary journals in Iran like Ferdowsi, Khusheh and Bamshad.

In 1957 Farjam once again departed for France to study French literature. While at the university, she took a theater course. She won the first prize for acting in her class and the play she had written was selected as one of the four works that were performed.

It was during her student days at the university that she started to write for children. Hasanak, her first children’s story, was published in the literary monthly Sokhan. And, in 1962, when the Children’s Book Council, an NGO, was formed, she was invited to become a member. She was also a member of the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults that was established in 1965.

In the first half of 1960s, Farjam attended many cultural seminars around the world and gradually became a familiar name in international cultural circles. In 1964, she started working with the International Youth Library in Munich, researching the role played by religion and politics in children’s books. She was also able to establish a section for Iranian books in this library.

From 1964 until she left Iran four years later, she wrote several stories and plays that were staged, including Bride that was later translated and performed in various languages. The play was also performed on the Iranian National Television. In 1964, she also produced one of her own plays, Household Without Adults, at Tehran’s City Theater.

Other well-known works by Farjam include the Cardboard Air, a play, The Crystal Flower and the Sun, which won Italy’s Bologna Children's Book Fair award and a UNESCO prize for children's and young people's literature, and The Chain of Uncle Chain Maker.

Farjam published her poetry in the literary journals Daftarha-ye Zamaneh and Arash. She was also a founder of the Writers' Association of Iran, an organization founded in 1968 to promote freedom of speech and fight against censorship. 

In 1970, when the international outcry against the US Vietnam War was at its height, Farjam returned to Paris at the invitation of the Bread and Puppet Theater, a politically radical group opposed to the war.

The same year, she was accepted by the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam and graduated from this school with honors. She then directed many of her plays and filmed a number of her scripts. These films were presented at various festivals and were well-received, including With Their Blessed Hands, a film about immigrant Turkish workers that was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Rotterdam International Film Festival.

After 44 years, in 2014, Farjam returned to Iran and, along with a number of famous actors, recited her masterpiece Bride at Qasr Garden Museum and Golestan Cultural Center Theater, with proceeds going to charity.

Farjam is now 84 years old but age has not stopped her from being active. Just five years ago, she opened her play Sindukht, based on the life of a woman in Persian mythology, in the National Library of Iran.