In this episode we talk with Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi about poetry as a practise in Iran. We talk about poetry’s strong roots in Iranian culture, and how it’s being used today as a weapon in the fight against the Iranian regime. We talk about censorship in Iran and the poetic movement post-modern Ghazal. We discuss how the regime exercise systematic violence, torture and discrimination against its population, and the ways in which Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi have used their poetry as a political tool in mobilising change.

Fatemeh Ekhtesari is a poet, editor, Human rights activist and midwife from Iran. She has published four collections of poetry, two collections of short stories, and two collections of prose. Her poetry is translated into English, German, Norwegian, Swedish and Spanish.

Mehdi Mousavi is a poet, editor, Human rights activist and pharmacist from Iran. He has published fourteen collections of poetry, two novels and a book on literature theory. As a teacher Mousavi has led underground poetry schools in hiding from Iranian authorities for many years.

In 2015 Ekhtesari and Mousavi fled Iran together. Ekhtesari had been convicted eleven and a half years in prison and ninety-nine whiplashes, Mousavi nine years in prison and ninety-nine lashes. Both sentences were on the grounds of their poetic activism. They came to Limmehammer in 2017 through Icorn as writes in exile.

This episode of the podcast was recorded in February 2024, at an event in Gamle Munch in Oslo in front of an audience. The event was supported by Frittord.

I hope you enjoy the conversation.