Prominent Iranian author and translator Simin Daneshvar, known as the first female novelist of contemporary Persian fiction, has died at the age of 90 in Tehran.

Daneshvar died of old age at her home on March 8, 2012 after she fell ill with influenza.

Born in 1921 in Shiraz, Daneshvar was known as one of the pioneer Iranian women writers. She got her PhD in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran in 1949.

Daneshvar published her first book Extinguished Fire at the age of 27, which was a collection of short stories, first-ever written by an Iranian female author.

Daneshvar is best known for her 1969 socio-historical novel Savushun, also known as A Persian Requiem which recounts the story of a family living during the World War II occupation of Iran by the Allied Forces.

As her masterpiece and bestselling novel, the book received wide literary acclaim and has been translated into 17 languages so far.

The wife of late renowned Iranian author Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, Daneshvar was the first director of the Iranian Writers’ Association.

A City Like Heaven, To Whom Shall I Say Hello?, Island of Bewilderment and The Dazed Camel Driver are among her better-known works. The last part of the trilogy The Mountain of Bewilderment has not been published yet.

She has also translated The Chocolate Soldier by George Bernard Shaw, Enemies by Anton Chekov, Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne into Persian.

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News ID 181582