Marta Simidchieva
Email: msimid@yorku.ca
Marta Simidchieva’s research interests focus on the intersection of religion, culture, and society of the countries in Central, West, and South Asia, whose premodern cultural legacies are a constituent part of the so-called “Persianite civilizations.” She is especially interested in the history of ideas, in their reception and acculturation, and in the cultural negotiations and contestations which occur when societies with strong cultural traditions appropriate Modernity. East-West cultural interaction is another aspect of her research, as are issues of cultural syncretism, hybridity, and cultural authenticity. The representation of women in literature and the arts, of female agency, creativity, and changes in gender mores in the wake of socio-political change, is another area of exploration for her. Classical and modern literature in Persian and its cognate languages provides the inspiration and material for most of her studies.
Degrees
PhD in Iranian Studies (1989), Institute of Oriental Studies, Soviet Academyt of Sciences, MoscowGraduate studies in Persian Literature (1977), Deprtment for Foreign Students, University of Tehran, Iran, Irqan
BA in Enlgish Literature (1976; summa cum laude) ), University of Tehran, Iran
Professional Leadership
*Book review editor for "Iranian Studies," journal of the AIS/ Association for Iranian Studies (2019-2020)
*Program Chair of the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Iranian Studies (now AIS), Montreal (2014) and of the 8th Biennial conference of the same Society, Santa Monica (2010)
*Member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Iranian Studies" (2010-2014)
*Member of the Council of the Society for Iranian Studies (2010-2013)
Community Contributions
*Participant in two public discussions “The Jyllans-Posten Muhammad Cartoons Controversy” at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, February 2006, along with Prof. Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Todd Lawson, and Jens Hanssen.
*BBC Radio Persian-language program: "Pishgam-e adabiyyat-e modern"(A pioneer of modern literature).
Interviews conducted by the Iranian writer Mahmud Kianush in honour of the Iranian modern classic Sadeq Hedayat (February 2004)
*COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Moderator of Public Discussion “The Hijab and Secularism” with the participation of Dr. Katherine Bullock, author of "Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes." Herndon, VA: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2002.
Organized by the Muslim Students Association, In connection with the French Parliament ban on head-scarves and conspicuous religious symbols from state schools. University of Toronto Missisauga, February 2004.
Research Interests
“The Indian Connection in an Allegorical Reading of Sadeq Hedayat’s Blind Owl.” Revisiting Sadeq Hedayat’s Blind Owl: Writings on a Modern Persian Novel. Eds. Syed Akhtar Husain and Md. Arshadul Quadri. Foreword by N.N. Vohra. Delhi: Primus Books, 2023. Pp. 33-50.
“Zan o mard ba ham: ‘Eshq, ezdevaj va jensiyat dar Asir-e Forugh-e Farrokhzad.” (Persian translation of “Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzād’s First Collection, Asir.”) Nami bar pishani-ye aseman : Negahi be janbeha-ye mokhtalef-e she’r o honar-e Forugh-e Farrokhzad (A name on the forehead of heavens: A glance at diverse issues in the poetry and art of Forugh Farrokhzad.) Transl. Sohrab Tavoosi. Tehran: Morvarid, 1401/2022. Pp. 35-56._
“Three songs for Iran: gender and social commitment in the poetry of Parvin E’tesami, Forugh Farrokhzad, and Simin Behbahani.” Persian Language, Literature and Culture: New Leaves, Fresh Looks (Iranian Studies). Edited by Kamran Talattof. London and New York: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 48-79.
“Humour for In-Betweeners: Sadeq Hedayat’s Puppet Play Afsane-ye afarinesh (The Myth of Creation) as a Cross-cultural Phenomenon.” Ruse and Wit: Humor in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Narrative. Edited by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw. Ilex Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts and Center for Hellenic Studies Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC. Cambridge, NA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2012. Pp. 119-145.
“FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat and Agnosticism.” FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.: Popularity and Neglect. Eds. Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London, New York & Delhi: Anthem Press, 2011, Pp. 55-72.
“Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzād’s First Collection, Asir.” Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran: Iconic Woman and Feminine Pioneer of New Persian Poetry. Eds. Dominic Parviz Brookshaw and Nasrin Rahimieh, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2010. Pp. 19-34.
“Sadeq Hedayat and the Classics: The Case of The Blind Owl.” Sadeq Hedayat: His Work and His Wondrous World. Ed. Homa Katouzian. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. Pp. 20-43.
“Kingship and Legitimacy in Nizam al-Mulk’s Siyasat-nama, 5th/11th c.” Writers and Rulers: Perspectives from Abbasid to Safavid Times. Eds. Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow. Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch-Pesisch-Turkisch. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004. Pp. 97-131.
“Sova v stranata na slaveite: Sadeq Hedayat i myastoto mu v persiyskata literatura” (An owl in the land of the nightingales: Sadeq Hedayat and his place in Persian literature). In: Svetlina i syanka (Chiaroscuro: Selected works of Sadeq Hedayat). Tr. Lyudmila Yaneva. Sofia: RadarPrint, 2001. Pp. 3—14.
Review of The Future of Iran’s Past: Nizam al-Mulk Remembered by Neguin Yavari. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, , February 2018. 256 pages. $50.00. Hardcover. ISBN 9780190855109.Reviewed for Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion
Review of Familiar and Foreign: Identity in Iranian Film and Literature. Eds. Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2015, reviewed for The University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol 86., Number 3, summer 2017, 291-294
Review of The Politics of Writing in Iran: A History of Modern Persian Literature, by Kamran Talattof, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, 2000, Reviewed for Iranian Studies 33: 3-4. September 2000. Pp. 458-463
Review of Recasting Persian Poetry: Scenarios of Poetic Modernity in Iran, by Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1995, reviewed for Iranian Studies 32:1, January 1999. Pp. 170-172.
Review of Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings by Olga Davidson, Myth and Poetics Series, Gen. Ed. Gregory Nagy, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. 1994, reviewed for Al Masaq. Studia Arabo Islamica Mediterranea. The Medieval Mediterranean: Cultures in Contact, Vol. 7, 1994, pp. 327 331
Simidchieva, Marta, and ʿAbbās ʿEbādi. "Defamiliarizing the Familiar? Two Reflections on the Longevity of Ṣādeq Hedāyat’s Fiction". Oriente Moderno 104.1-2 (2025): 178-197. https://doi.org/10.1163/22138617-12340340 Web.
“In Search of alam-i misal: Hedayat’s The Blind Owl and the Persian Philosophical Tradition.” Iran-namag: Quarterly of Iranian Studies. A Special Issue in Honour of Professor Maria Subtelny. Ed. Mahdi Tourage, Department of Religious Studies, Western University, London, ON. Vol. 6, No. 3-4.(Fall-Winter 2021). Pp. 384-409
“Zoroastiyskaya mifologiya i iranskiy modernism v “Slepoy sove” Sadeka Hedayata”. Trudy Instituta Vostokovedeniya RAN. Vyp. XXVIII: Pis’mennye pamyatniki Vostoka: Problemy perevoda i interpretacii. Izbrannye doklady: Tom III. Otv. Red. L.V. Goryaeva and B. N. Nastich [“Zoroastrian mythology and Iranian Modernism in Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.” Papers of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Issue 28. Written Sources of the East: Problems of Translation and Interpretation. Selected Papers. Vol 3. Edited by L.V. Goryaeva and B. N. Nastich.] Moscow: IOS of RAS, 2020, pp. 186-214
“Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis through the Lens of Persian Historiography.” International Journal of Persian Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, 2017, pp. 87–137.
“Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi of R. A. Nicholson.” The Mawlana Rumi Review I. A Publication of the Rumi Institute, Near East University, Cyprus, and The Rumi Studies Group of the Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK , 2010. Pp. 33-68.
“Olgu-ye Irani-ye meyl-e nakam,” tr. Davud Emarati-Moqaddam, Rudaki: Nashriye-ye farhangi, honari va ejtema’i,[Rudaki: A Journal on Culture, Art, and Society.] Numbers 19 to 21 ( Mehr-mah 1386 ta Dey o Bahman 1386 / September 2007 to January 2008). Pp. 8-16; 19-41; 13-22. (The article is a translation of “The River That Runs Through It: A Persian Paradigm of Frustrated Desire." Edebiyat 6 1995, pp. 203 222 )
“A Muslim Voice In Modern Bulgarian Poetry.” ISIM Review #16 [ISIM—International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World], Leiden, Holland, Vol. 16, issue 1, September 2005. Pp. 52-53.
“Kashifi’s Badayi’ al-afkar (10th c. AH/15th c. CE) and Its Predecessors al-Mu’jam (7th c. AH/13th c. CE) and Hada’iq al-sihr (6th c. AH/12th c. CE): Imitation and Innovation in Timurid Poetics.” Iranian Studies 36/4, Dec. 2003 (special jubilee issue on Husain Va’iz Kashifi, d. 910 AH/1504-05CE, Guest editor Maria Subtelny). Pp. 509-531.
“Rituals of Renewal: Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl and the Wine Myths of Manuchehri.” Oriente Moderno XXII (LXXXIII), n.s./1-2003: La letteratura persiana contemporanea tra tradizione e modernita. Ed. Natalia L. Tornesello, Rome: Istituto per l’Oriente “C. A. Nallino.” Pp. 219-241.
“Sadeq Hedayat and Europe: A Modernist among Modernists.” Keynote address to the First European Round Table on Modern Persian Literature, 4-7 July, 2024, Bamberg, Germany.
“Zoroastiyskaya mifologiya i iranskiy modernism v “Slepoy sove” Sadeka Hedayata.”[Zoroastrian Mythology and Iranian Modernism in Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.] Jubilee Conference Dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. October 31-November 2, 2018. Moscow.
“The ‘Indian Connection’ in an Allegorical Reading of Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.” International Seminar “Sadiq Hedayat : A Persian Phoenix in the Indian Island” Institute for Indo-Persian Studies. Powai, Mumbai, 17-18, February 2015
“Recasting Persian Poetry: FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat as a vehicle of modernity?” Conference dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam: “Omar Khayyam, FitzGerlad, and the Rubayyat.” Trinity College, Cambridge, 9-10 July 2009
“Molavi/Rumi of R. A. Nicholson.” A Conference Celebration of Molana Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Molavi Rumi (1207-73). Carleton University, Ottawa, 3-4 November 2007
“The Blind Owl and the Persian Classics.” Sadeq Hedayat Centenary Conference. Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, 28-29 March 2003
“Kingship and legitimacy as reflected in the Siyasat-nama (The book of government) by the Seljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk, 11th c. CE.” Colloquium on Literature and Rulership in Medieval Islam, endorsed by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Council on Middle East Studies , Yale University, 23 April 1999
“Siyasat name Revisited: The Question of Authenticity." In: Proceedings of the Second European Conference of Iranian Studies. Eds. Bert G. Fragner et al. Rome: Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente, 1995. Pp. 657 674.
“Books of Counsel: A Cross-Bridge between Two Cultures.” In: Contacts between Cultures: Selected papers from the 33rd International Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Toronto, August 15-25, 1990, Vol. I. Ed. A. Harrak. Lampeter, Wales, UK: Edwin Melen Press, 1992. Pp.170-75.
"The Indian Connection in Hedayat’s The Blind Owl." Alireza Ahmadian Lectures
in Iranian and Persianite Studies. Department of Asian Studies. Faculty of Arts. The University of British Columbia.
Guest speaker (via Zoom): Marta Simidchieva (PhD, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University). Discussant: Nadeem Akhtar (PhD, Visiting Faculty of Persian, Department of History, Ashoka University, India). May 28, 2022, 4 pm PDT.
“Sadeq Hedayat’s Afsane-ye afarinesh [The Myth of Creation]”. Iranian Studies Seminar Series, organized by the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, the Department of History at the University of Toronto; the Foundation for Iranian Studies, and the Initiative of Iranian Studies, Toronto: University of Toronto, November 30, 2012, 4-6 pm
“Famous Persian Books of Advice: The Book of Government (Siyasat-nama) by the Saljuq Vizier Nizam al-Mulk (11th Century)”. The Annual York-Noor Lecture Series 2009-2010. York University, 22 February, 2010
“Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis: Sketching Iran for the Rest of Us.” Persian Lecture Series in Conjunction with the Near Eastern Studies Colloquium Series and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Arizona, 29 January 2010
“The Rubayyat (Quatrains) of Omar Khayyam (11th-12th Centuries) and their Victorian Reincarnation and Reception”. The York-Noor Lecture Series 2009-2010 . Noor Cultural Center, Toronto, 21 February 2009
“The Blind Owl as a Parable of Sacrifice and Rebirth: A Modern Version of an Ancient Story.” Conference: “Sadegh Hedayat: Fifty Years On: His Life and Work in Perspective.” Speakers: Homa Katouzian (Oxford University); Michael Hillmann ( University of Texas at Austin); Marta Simidchieva (York University, Toronto). Noor-va-Danesh [Light and Knowledge], Iranian Muslim Association of the Eastern United States. Rutherford, NJ, 21 October 2001.
Marta Simidchieva’s research interests focus on the intersection of religion, culture, and society of the countries in Central, West, and South Asia, whose premodern cultural legacies are a constituent part of the so-called “Persianite civilizations.” She is especially interested in the history of ideas, in their reception and acculturation, and in the cultural negotiations and contestations which occur when societies with strong cultural traditions appropriate Modernity. East-West cultural interaction is another aspect of her research, as are issues of cultural syncretism, hybridity, and cultural authenticity. The representation of women in literature and the arts, of female agency, creativity, and changes in gender mores in the wake of socio-political change, is another area of exploration for her. Classical and modern literature in Persian and its cognate languages provides the inspiration and material for most of her studies.
Degrees
PhD in Iranian Studies (1989), Institute of Oriental Studies, Soviet Academyt of Sciences, MoscowGraduate studies in Persian Literature (1977), Deprtment for Foreign Students, University of Tehran, Iran, Irqan
BA in Enlgish Literature (1976; summa cum laude) ), University of Tehran, Iran
Professional Leadership
*Book review editor for "Iranian Studies," journal of the AIS/ Association for Iranian Studies (2019-2020)
*Program Chair of the 10th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Iranian Studies (now AIS), Montreal (2014) and of the 8th Biennial conference of the same Society, Santa Monica (2010)
*Member of the Editorial Board of the journal "Iranian Studies" (2010-2014)
*Member of the Council of the Society for Iranian Studies (2010-2013)
Community Contributions
*Participant in two public discussions “The Jyllans-Posten Muhammad Cartoons Controversy” at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, February 2006, along with Prof. Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Todd Lawson, and Jens Hanssen.
*BBC Radio Persian-language program: "Pishgam-e adabiyyat-e modern"(A pioneer of modern literature).
Interviews conducted by the Iranian writer Mahmud Kianush in honour of the Iranian modern classic Sadeq Hedayat (February 2004)
*COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Moderator of Public Discussion “The Hijab and Secularism” with the participation of Dr. Katherine Bullock, author of "Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging Historical and Modern Stereotypes." Herndon, VA: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2002.
Organized by the Muslim Students Association, In connection with the French Parliament ban on head-scarves and conspicuous religious symbols from state schools. University of Toronto Missisauga, February 2004.
Research Interests
All Publications
“The Indian Connection in an Allegorical Reading of Sadeq Hedayat’s Blind Owl.” Revisiting Sadeq Hedayat’s Blind Owl: Writings on a Modern Persian Novel. Eds. Syed Akhtar Husain and Md. Arshadul Quadri. Foreword by N.N. Vohra. Delhi: Primus Books, 2023. Pp. 33-50.
“Zan o mard ba ham: ‘Eshq, ezdevaj va jensiyat dar Asir-e Forugh-e Farrokhzad.” (Persian translation of “Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzād’s First Collection, Asir.”) Nami bar pishani-ye aseman : Negahi be janbeha-ye mokhtalef-e she’r o honar-e Forugh-e Farrokhzad (A name on the forehead of heavens: A glance at diverse issues in the poetry and art of Forugh Farrokhzad.) Transl. Sohrab Tavoosi. Tehran: Morvarid, 1401/2022. Pp. 35-56._
“Three songs for Iran: gender and social commitment in the poetry of Parvin E’tesami, Forugh Farrokhzad, and Simin Behbahani.” Persian Language, Literature and Culture: New Leaves, Fresh Looks (Iranian Studies). Edited by Kamran Talattof. London and New York: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 48-79.
“Humour for In-Betweeners: Sadeq Hedayat’s Puppet Play Afsane-ye afarinesh (The Myth of Creation) as a Cross-cultural Phenomenon.” Ruse and Wit: Humor in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Narrative. Edited by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw. Ilex Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts and Center for Hellenic Studies Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC. Cambridge, NA and London, England: Harvard University Press, 2012. Pp. 119-145.
“FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat and Agnosticism.” FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.: Popularity and Neglect. Eds. Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London, New York & Delhi: Anthem Press, 2011, Pp. 55-72.
“Men and Women Together: Love, Marriage, and Gender in Forugh Farrokhzād’s First Collection, Asir.” Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran: Iconic Woman and Feminine Pioneer of New Persian Poetry. Eds. Dominic Parviz Brookshaw and Nasrin Rahimieh, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 2010. Pp. 19-34.
“Sadeq Hedayat and the Classics: The Case of The Blind Owl.” Sadeq Hedayat: His Work and His Wondrous World. Ed. Homa Katouzian. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. Pp. 20-43.
“Kingship and Legitimacy in Nizam al-Mulk’s Siyasat-nama, 5th/11th c.” Writers and Rulers: Perspectives from Abbasid to Safavid Times. Eds. Beatrice Gruendler and Louise Marlow. Literaturen im Kontext: Arabisch-Pesisch-Turkisch. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2004. Pp. 97-131.
“Sova v stranata na slaveite: Sadeq Hedayat i myastoto mu v persiyskata literatura” (An owl in the land of the nightingales: Sadeq Hedayat and his place in Persian literature). In: Svetlina i syanka (Chiaroscuro: Selected works of Sadeq Hedayat). Tr. Lyudmila Yaneva. Sofia: RadarPrint, 2001. Pp. 3—14.
Review of The Future of Iran’s Past: Nizam al-Mulk Remembered by Neguin Yavari. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, , February 2018. 256 pages. $50.00. Hardcover. ISBN 9780190855109.Reviewed for Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion
Review of Familiar and Foreign: Identity in Iranian Film and Literature. Eds. Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2015, reviewed for The University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol 86., Number 3, summer 2017, 291-294
Review of The Politics of Writing in Iran: A History of Modern Persian Literature, by Kamran Talattof, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, 2000, Reviewed for Iranian Studies 33: 3-4. September 2000. Pp. 458-463
Review of Recasting Persian Poetry: Scenarios of Poetic Modernity in Iran, by Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1995, reviewed for Iranian Studies 32:1, January 1999. Pp. 170-172.
Review of Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings by Olga Davidson, Myth and Poetics Series, Gen. Ed. Gregory Nagy, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. 1994, reviewed for Al Masaq. Studia Arabo Islamica Mediterranea. The Medieval Mediterranean: Cultures in Contact, Vol. 7, 1994, pp. 327 331
Simidchieva, Marta, and ʿAbbās ʿEbādi. "Defamiliarizing the Familiar? Two Reflections on the Longevity of Ṣādeq Hedāyat’s Fiction". Oriente Moderno 104.1-2 (2025): 178-197. https://doi.org/10.1163/22138617-12340340 Web.
“In Search of alam-i misal: Hedayat’s The Blind Owl and the Persian Philosophical Tradition.” Iran-namag: Quarterly of Iranian Studies. A Special Issue in Honour of Professor Maria Subtelny. Ed. Mahdi Tourage, Department of Religious Studies, Western University, London, ON. Vol. 6, No. 3-4.(Fall-Winter 2021). Pp. 384-409
“Zoroastiyskaya mifologiya i iranskiy modernism v “Slepoy sove” Sadeka Hedayata”. Trudy Instituta Vostokovedeniya RAN. Vyp. XXVIII: Pis’mennye pamyatniki Vostoka: Problemy perevoda i interpretacii. Izbrannye doklady: Tom III. Otv. Red. L.V. Goryaeva and B. N. Nastich [“Zoroastrian mythology and Iranian Modernism in Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.” Papers of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Issue 28. Written Sources of the East: Problems of Translation and Interpretation. Selected Papers. Vol 3. Edited by L.V. Goryaeva and B. N. Nastich.] Moscow: IOS of RAS, 2020, pp. 186-214
“Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis through the Lens of Persian Historiography.” International Journal of Persian Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, 2017, pp. 87–137.
“Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi of R. A. Nicholson.” The Mawlana Rumi Review I. A Publication of the Rumi Institute, Near East University, Cyprus, and The Rumi Studies Group of the Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK , 2010. Pp. 33-68.
“Olgu-ye Irani-ye meyl-e nakam,” tr. Davud Emarati-Moqaddam, Rudaki: Nashriye-ye farhangi, honari va ejtema’i,[Rudaki: A Journal on Culture, Art, and Society.] Numbers 19 to 21 ( Mehr-mah 1386 ta Dey o Bahman 1386 / September 2007 to January 2008). Pp. 8-16; 19-41; 13-22. (The article is a translation of “The River That Runs Through It: A Persian Paradigm of Frustrated Desire." Edebiyat 6 1995, pp. 203 222 )
“A Muslim Voice In Modern Bulgarian Poetry.” ISIM Review #16 [ISIM—International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World], Leiden, Holland, Vol. 16, issue 1, September 2005. Pp. 52-53.
“Kashifi’s Badayi’ al-afkar (10th c. AH/15th c. CE) and Its Predecessors al-Mu’jam (7th c. AH/13th c. CE) and Hada’iq al-sihr (6th c. AH/12th c. CE): Imitation and Innovation in Timurid Poetics.” Iranian Studies 36/4, Dec. 2003 (special jubilee issue on Husain Va’iz Kashifi, d. 910 AH/1504-05CE, Guest editor Maria Subtelny). Pp. 509-531.
“Rituals of Renewal: Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl and the Wine Myths of Manuchehri.” Oriente Moderno XXII (LXXXIII), n.s./1-2003: La letteratura persiana contemporanea tra tradizione e modernita. Ed. Natalia L. Tornesello, Rome: Istituto per l’Oriente “C. A. Nallino.” Pp. 219-241.
“Sadeq Hedayat and Europe: A Modernist among Modernists.” Keynote address to the First European Round Table on Modern Persian Literature, 4-7 July, 2024, Bamberg, Germany.
“Zoroastiyskaya mifologiya i iranskiy modernism v “Slepoy sove” Sadeka Hedayata.”[Zoroastrian Mythology and Iranian Modernism in Sadeq Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.] Jubilee Conference Dedicated to the 200th Anniversary of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. October 31-November 2, 2018. Moscow.
“The ‘Indian Connection’ in an Allegorical Reading of Hedayat’s The Blind Owl.” International Seminar “Sadiq Hedayat : A Persian Phoenix in the Indian Island” Institute for Indo-Persian Studies. Powai, Mumbai, 17-18, February 2015
“Recasting Persian Poetry: FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat as a vehicle of modernity?” Conference dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of the Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam: “Omar Khayyam, FitzGerlad, and the Rubayyat.” Trinity College, Cambridge, 9-10 July 2009
“Molavi/Rumi of R. A. Nicholson.” A Conference Celebration of Molana Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Molavi Rumi (1207-73). Carleton University, Ottawa, 3-4 November 2007
“The Blind Owl and the Persian Classics.” Sadeq Hedayat Centenary Conference. Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, 28-29 March 2003
“Kingship and legitimacy as reflected in the Siyasat-nama (The book of government) by the Seljuq vizier Nizam al-Mulk, 11th c. CE.” Colloquium on Literature and Rulership in Medieval Islam, endorsed by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Council on Middle East Studies , Yale University, 23 April 1999
“Siyasat name Revisited: The Question of Authenticity." In: Proceedings of the Second European Conference of Iranian Studies. Eds. Bert G. Fragner et al. Rome: Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente, 1995. Pp. 657 674.
“Books of Counsel: A Cross-Bridge between Two Cultures.” In: Contacts between Cultures: Selected papers from the 33rd International Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Toronto, August 15-25, 1990, Vol. I. Ed. A. Harrak. Lampeter, Wales, UK: Edwin Melen Press, 1992. Pp.170-75.
"The Indian Connection in Hedayat’s The Blind Owl." Alireza Ahmadian Lectures
in Iranian and Persianite Studies. Department of Asian Studies. Faculty of Arts. The University of British Columbia.
Guest speaker (via Zoom): Marta Simidchieva (PhD, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, York University). Discussant: Nadeem Akhtar (PhD, Visiting Faculty of Persian, Department of History, Ashoka University, India). May 28, 2022, 4 pm PDT.
“Sadeq Hedayat’s Afsane-ye afarinesh [The Myth of Creation]”. Iranian Studies Seminar Series, organized by the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, the Department of History at the University of Toronto; the Foundation for Iranian Studies, and the Initiative of Iranian Studies, Toronto: University of Toronto, November 30, 2012, 4-6 pm
“Famous Persian Books of Advice: The Book of Government (Siyasat-nama) by the Saljuq Vizier Nizam al-Mulk (11th Century)”. The Annual York-Noor Lecture Series 2009-2010. York University, 22 February, 2010
“Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis: Sketching Iran for the Rest of Us.” Persian Lecture Series in Conjunction with the Near Eastern Studies Colloquium Series and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Arizona, 29 January 2010
“The Rubayyat (Quatrains) of Omar Khayyam (11th-12th Centuries) and their Victorian Reincarnation and Reception”. The York-Noor Lecture Series 2009-2010 . Noor Cultural Center, Toronto, 21 February 2009
“The Blind Owl as a Parable of Sacrifice and Rebirth: A Modern Version of an Ancient Story.” Conference: “Sadegh Hedayat: Fifty Years On: His Life and Work in Perspective.” Speakers: Homa Katouzian (Oxford University); Michael Hillmann ( University of Texas at Austin); Marta Simidchieva (York University, Toronto). Noor-va-Danesh [Light and Knowledge], Iranian Muslim Association of the Eastern United States. Rutherford, NJ, 21 October 2001.
