September 18 was the anniversary of Shahryars passing which has been chosen as the day of Persian poetry and literature.
Seyyed Mohammad-Hossein Behjat Tabrizi known by his pen name Shahriar, was an Iranian poet who composed works in both Azerbaijani and Persian. His most important work, Heydar Babaya Salam, is considered to be the pinnacle of Azerbaijani literature which gained great popularity in the Turkic world and was translated to more than 30 languages.
But you might wonder why his anniversary of passing was chosen for such a day if his famous works were in Turkish/Azeri.
In an interview with She’rdoost (apt last name since it means songlover) he gave his reasonings for choosing him. He said that he wanted to choose a contemporary poet to both draw attention to Iranians continuation of this great tradition of poetry and make people familiar with contemporary poets that lived in our time but to also not cause debates about who is the greatest and most influential classical poet in Iran.
Among contemporary poets, Shahriar is particularly important because of the breadth of his work and his position between different parts of Iran’s literary tradition.
Shahriar was deeply rooted in the classical Persian poetic tradition, particularly poets such as Hafez.
At the same time, he was innovative, like in the development of modern forms of the ghazal.
He is known as an important figure in the revival and transformation of the Persian ghazal.
He wrote extensively in Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish, giving him significance not only in Persian literature but also in Turkish-language literature in Iran and beyond.
In other words, Shahriar represents both continuity and diversity within Iranian literature.
I visited his home that has turned to a museum and spent hours talking to his grandson there. It was so touching to see that to this day his home is a place where people gather and recite poems together.
