Although Jila Mossaed physically left Iran a long time ago, the country of her birth still runs in her veins with its landscapes, its women, its beliefs and its superstitions. Her limpid writing, devoid of artifice, brings whimsy and magic into day-to-day experience. Her eighth anthology in Swedish has been translated into French by Francoise Sule and published by Le Castor Astral in a bilingual version titled Le huitième pays with a preface by Vénus Khoury-Ghata.
Born in Teheran in 1948, Jila Mossaed found refuge in Sweden in 1986 following Khomeini’s rise to power in 1979 and the ensuing cultural crackdown. She has been writing in Swedish since 1997, and entered the Swedish Academy in 2018. “Each language that gives me the freedom to speak out against injustice is the language of my heart”, she says, referring to her poetic and literary work, for which she has received prestigious prizes including the Karl Vennberg Prize, the Erik Lindegren Prize and the Jan Fridegård Prize.
Vénus Khoury-Ghata was born in Lebanon in 1937. She fled the war and moved to Paris in 1972. She was awarded the Grand Prix de Poésie by the Académie Française in 2009 and the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie in 2011 for Où vont les arbres. In 2018, she joined the Parliament of French-speaking Woman Writers.
The event will be moderated by Jean-Yves Reuzeau, Jila Mossaed’s publisher. It will be followed by readings in Swedish by Jila Mossaed and in French by her translator Françoise Sule.
In collaboration with Le Castor Astral.
Useful information
- Jila Mossaed will be speaking Swedish, with consecutive interpretation into French by Françoise Sule, and Vénus Khoury-Ghata speaks French.
- Admission free while seats last.