Forugh Farrokhzad was a 20th-century modernist Iranian poet and filmmaker. She was known for writing from a woman’s perspective and challenging the beliefs of the time.
Foroghzaman Farrokhzad Arraghi was born on the 29th of December 1935 to Mohammad Bagher Farrokhzad and Touran Vaziri-Tabar. She lived in Tehran with her parents and six siblings until she married Parviz Shapour in 1952. He was 31 and she was 16. The couple moved to Ahvaz where Forugh furthered her studies of painting and sewing. Their son Kamyar was born in 1933.
In 1954 Forugh and her husband divorced and she lost custody of her son due to having multiple affairs. Parviz and his family raised Kamyar under the impression that his mother had left to pursue poetry and sex and granted her very little visitation.
Four years later, Forugh travelled through Europe for 9 months. Once she came home she met Ebrahim Golestan, with whom she fell in love, and published 2 volumes of poetry. She went to Tabriz to make a film about Iranians with leprosy where she met a child named Hossein Mansouri. Hossein’s parents suffered from leprosy so Forugh adopted him and took him home.
Forugh’s poetry was the subject of scrutiny for its challenging messages at the time. Even after her death, it was reviewed negatively. She wrote about recognising the capability of women and not confining either sex to their ‘traditional’ roles, and she did not think that a person’s sex should define their work or legacy.
Forugh Farrokhzad died on the 13th of February 1967 in a car crash.
Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!
Author’s Note: Some of the information regarding this person varies from source to source, so this may disagree with other articles.
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