Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani is an Iranian writer who grew up in Uganda in the 1960s.[1] She was educated at Dr Williams School, Dolgellau, United Kingdom and the United States. She taught European and American literature in Belgium, and later moved to France, where she teaches.[2]

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, 2007 ceremony for honorary doctorate at University of Liège

In 2007, Bahiyyih Nakhjavani received the honorary doctorate Doctorats Honoris Causa from the University of Liège.[2] Her books have been translated into many languages.

Novels

Her first novel The Saddlebag - A Fable for Doubters and Seekers was an international bestseller. It describes events set in the Najd plateau along the pilgrim route between Mecca and Medina during one day in 1844-1845, when a mysterious saddlebag passes from hand to hand, and influences the lives of each person who comes across it. Inspired by Chapter VII of The Dawn-Breakers by Nabíl-i-Aʻzam, where the Bab - the forerunner to Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baháʼí Faith - has His saddlebag stolen while travelling to Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage. The main characters are the Thief, the Bride, the Chieftain, the Moneychanger, the Slave, the Pilgrim, the Priest, the Dervish and the Corpse.

The novel Paper - The Dreams of A Scribe is an allegory centered on a Scribe who is searching for perfect paper for writing his masterpiece. It is set in Máh-Kú, a bordertown in north-west Persia, between the Summer of 1847 and the Spring of 1848. It contains 19 chapters which are structured symmetrically around five dreams. Other main characters are the Mullah, the Widow, the Warden, his Mother and his Daughter, and the Prisoner.

Her third novel The Woman Who Read Too Much is also set in the middle of the nineteenth century, and centers around Tahirih Qurratu'l-Ayn, a poet and scholar from Qazvin, who shocked the political powers of Qajar Persia and violated religious convention by casting aside her veil. This protagonist is a heroine from early Baháʼí/Babi history and was one of the Bab's early followers who were known as the Letters of the Living. This novel is divided into four parts with revolving points of view, of mother, sister, daughter and wife respectively. It traces the capture, incarceration, torture and final execution of the central figure of the mysterious poet while exploring her impact on mayor, minister, mullah and monarch in a world of intrigue and corruption in Qajar Persia. The book has been translated into French, Italian in 2007 and will be out in Korean and Spanish by 2008/9;[3] it was nominated for the 2008 Latifeh Yarshater Award, and has been published in English by Stanford University Press in 2015.

Bibliography

Novels
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2000). The Saddlebag - A Fable for Doubters and Seekers. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 0-8070-8342-9.
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2004). Paper - The Dreams of A Scribe. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 0-7475-6921-5.
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2017). Us & Them. Stanford, CA: Redwood Press. ISBN 9781503601581.

Other books
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (1979). When We Grow Up. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-086-1.
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (1981). Response. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-107-8.
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (1983). Four on an Island. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-174-4.
  • Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (1990). Asking Questions: A Challenge to Fundamentalism. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-314-3.
  • Augusto López-Claros and Bahiyyih Nakhjavani (2018). Equality for Women = Prosperity for All: The Disastrous Global Crisis of Gender Inequality. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250051189.

See also

References
  1. Nakhjavani, Bahiyyih (2017-02-17). "A Wandering Alien". Stanford University Press. Retrieved 2020-10-23. I first came across the word “alien” in a non-stellar context when I had to sign a card identifying myself as one, soon after the Immigrants Act of 1962 was passed in the UK ... (when) my family... (was) living in Uganda
  2. Author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani honored in Belgium
  3. French: Actes Sud Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Italian: Libreria Rizzoli, Spanish: Alianza Editorial.
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