{"id":206205,"date":"2026-04-02T08:01:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T08:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/world-literature-todays-puterbaugh-festival-to-highlight-persian-poetry-culture-literature-ou-daily\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T08:01:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T08:01:39","slug":"world-literature-todays-puterbaugh-festival-to-highlight-persian-poetry-culture-literature-ou-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/world-literature-todays-puterbaugh-festival-to-highlight-persian-poetry-culture-literature-ou-daily\/","title":{"rendered":"World Literature Today\u2019s Puterbaugh Festival to highlight Persian poetry, culture, literature – OU Daily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poet and performance artist Haleh Liza Gafori
Poet and performance artist Haleh Liza Gafori
Culture Reporter
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World Literature Today’s<\/span><\/a> annual<\/span> Puterbaugh Festival,<\/span><\/a> to be held on campus Thursday and Friday, will feature translator, poet and performance artist<\/span> Haleh Liza Gafori<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>
The festival, which has brought international authors to OU since 1968, will focus this year around Persian culture, music and dance. The festival will highlight the literary work \u201c<\/span>Water<\/span><\/a>,\u201d Gafori\u2019s latest bestselling translation of poetry by the 13th century Persian mystic Rumi.<\/span>
The festival will kick off with a<\/span> Persian classical music workshop<\/span><\/a> in the OU School of Music followed by a<\/span> book signing and opening reception<\/span><\/a> at<\/span> The Depot<\/span><\/a>. Friday\u2019s events will begin at Holmberg Hall with a discussion between<\/span> Gafori and Mina Raminsabet<\/span><\/a>, a lecturer in Persian language and literature at OU, followed by the<\/span> Masala World Music Concert Series<\/span><\/a> featuring recitation of poems by Gafori along with a performance by the Persian Music Project ensemble and dance adaptations.<\/span>
Hamed Erfani, composer-in-residence for the<\/span> Oklahoma Chamber Symphony<\/span><\/a> who will lead and direct the festival workshop and concert, said Persian music features what\u2019s referred to as the<\/span> Dastg\u0101h system<\/span><\/a> \u2014 a musical framework that serves as the foundation for improvisation in Persian music.<\/span>
\u201cPersian music, and specifically the Dastg\u0101h system, gives you a journey, and it starts from a point. Imagine that you are hiking. You start from the base, you reach different stations, you hit the summit and you come back,\u201d Erfani said.<\/span>
According to Daniel Simon, World Literature Today\u2019s editor-in-chief and assistant director, the festival is put together in collaboration with various colleges and departments on campus.<\/span>
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\u201cMaking these connections \u2026 with a year-long process of planning an event, coming up with really exciting programs, but then when the actual festival starts, I get to enjoy all of the events as well,\u201d said Simon. \u201cTo draw in students and talk to everyone who attends, and to see them get excited about translation and international literature and culture is really fun.\u201d<\/span>
With recent events such as the<\/span> Iran war<\/span><\/a> drawing attention to the Middle East, Simon wants this year\u2019s Puterbaugh Festival to be a chance for attendees to learn more about Persian culture.<\/span>
\u201cWith \u2026 the headlines in terms of current events and politics, our hope is to step back from all of that and to really just focus on the culture and the rich history of Persian culture as part of world culture,\u201d Simon said.<\/span>
All festival events \u2014 with the exception of the Masala World Music Concert Series \u2014 are free for the public to attend. Concert tickets are available<\/span> online<\/span><\/a> for $9. The full festival schedule is available<\/span> online<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>
This story was edited by Madisson Cameron. Larkin Bock and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.<\/strong><\/em>
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Poet and performance artist Haleh Liza GaforiPoet and performance artist Haleh Liza GaforiCulture Reporter{{description}}Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.World Literature Today’s annual Puterbaugh Festival, to be held on campus Thursday and Friday, will feature translator, poet and performance artist Haleh Liza Gafori.The festival, which has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":206206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-206205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}