Fatemeh Shams

Fatemeh Shams, also known as Shahrzad F. Shams (Persian: فاطمه شمس) is a contemporary Persian poet, literary scholar and translator, currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and teaching Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She previously taught Persian literature and language at Oxford University, Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, and School of Oriental and African Studies in London, UK.

Fatemeh Shams earned her doctorate from Oxford University in the year 2015 as a Clarendon Scholar in the field of Oriental Studies. Shams is well known for her poems and writings on political and socio-literary issues in Iran. Her poems have been translated into English, German, Arabic, and Kurdish. Dick Davis, Armen Davoudian, Nabaz Goran, and Susan Bagheatani have translated her works into English, Kurdish, and German.

Fatemeh Shams was awarded the best young Persian poet in 2012 by Jaleh Esfahani Poetry Foundation in London. She published her debut poetry collection, ''88'' in 2013. Her second collection was published in 2015 under the title ''Writing in the Mist'' in London. Her third bilingual collection ''When They Broke Down the Door'' received the Latifeh Yarshater award in 2016 for unique and groundbreaking developments in the form of Ghazal. Shams is currently a standing faculty member at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and a board member of the Middle East Centre at the University of Pennsylvania. Her groundbreaking monograph ''A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-Option Under Islamic Republic'' which has been published by Oxford University Press in 2021 is the first study of poetic legitimacy and the role of poetry and poetics in the political ideology of the Islamic Republic. Provided by Wikipedia