Mina Assadi

She is known for writing about controversial and provocative subjects, especially when she describes the fight against the Iranian government. In 2007 she wrote the poem called "Pimps" (Djakesha). It caused a lot of discussion for being too vulgar. The poem is about those who live in Iran and in exile who have forgot the struggle. She wrote her debut book, a collection of poems named "Minas Gift" (Armanghane Mina), at the age of 18. Thereafter she worked as a journalist for several well-known Iranian magazines, for example Kayhan. She has written 14 books in total, the book "Who throws rocks" (Che kasi sang miandazad) attracting most attention.

Mina Assadi has also written songs for Iranian singers like Ebi ("Halah"), Dariush ("Zendegi jek basie" and "Ahay javoon"), Hayedeh ("Onkeh jek rosi barajeh man khoda bod"), Giti ("Oje parvaz"), Ramesh ("To aftabi, to baroni") and Nooshafarin ("Koh he ghavei") and Afshin ("delam az ru nemire) to name a few. In the year of 1996 she won the Hellman/Hammett Grant from the Human Rights Watch of New York, US. She has been compared to Persian poets Forough Farrokhzad, Simin Behbahani (who also is a Hellman/Hammet Grant winner) and Parvin E'tesami and Swedish poets Karl Vennberg and Edith Södergran.

• R M Chopra, "Eminent Poetesses of Persian", Iran Society, Kolkata, 2010.

• Official website
• hrw.org