Diaspora Arts Connection proudly presents Iranian poet Sheida Mohammadi on Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 3:00 PM at Central Stage in Richmond. Sheida Mohammadi will talk about Love and Eroticism in Persian Poetry, with an emphasis on female Iranian poets' language and style over the past thousand years. This presentation is entirely in Persian language. Refreshments will be available.

About Sheida Mohammadi:

Sheida Mohamadi is a Poet, writer, Scholar, and Journalist, who was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She graduated with a Master of Science in Communication at Purdue University. Also, Sheida graduated in Persian Language and Literature at the University of Tehran. She was the first Poet in Residence at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of California, Irvine for the 2015-2017 academic year. She lectured on Persian poetry, prose, history and folklore, structure, and linguistic roots. Sheida researched contemporary Persian poetry. Her research was about: The Idea of Homeland in Modern Persian Poetry, whichwas published in the Association of Iranian Studies Newsletter, in April 2020. She also lectured courses focusing on Persian literature and historical texts and published two books and one CD while being there. In 2010, she was a Poet in Residence at the University of Maryland offered workshops to graduate students in classic to contemporary Persian poetry and short stories. She has also been a member of the Pen Center USA since 2010. Sheida Mohamadi has published six books and one audio CD. Her first book, a work of lyrical prose titled The Moonlight Opened its Heart, Lady, came out in 2001 and her second book, a novel titled The Legend of Baba Leila was published in 2005. Her third book, The Snapshot of Lovemaking is a collection of poems published in 2007. Sheida’s next collection of poems, Crimson Whispers was published in 2015. Another collection of her poems I Blink and You Turn Peacock and Hug Me Against the Haze was published at the Jordan Center for Persian Studies at the University of Irvine California during the spring of 2016 and 2017 respectively. Sheida Mohamadi published also an audio CD, in which she recites fifty of her poems from her book "I Blink and You Are a Peacock."Her poems have been translated into different languages, including English, French, Arabic, Czech, Turkish, Kurdish and Swedish.