In my stories, I tried to have the atmosphere of the south.
According to the correspondent of Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) in Ahvaz, Reza Fayyazi, a director and writer, speaking on Wednesday afternoon at the session for ‘Asieh Abad Stories’, written by Fayyazi, part of the literary section of the Fifth Shokarestan Festival and Third Literary Shokarestan, reminisced about his mother, saying: ‘My mother always waited for hours at night in Asieh Abad alley, Lane 5, Plate 24, for me to return from theater practice, and her memory is always alive for me.’
Fayyazi said: ‘I feel proud to be your fellow citizen, and in all my stories, I have tried to incorporate the atmosphere of the south, shaping most of the events in Ahvaz, and the stories are not set outside of Ahvaz.’
Referring to the book ‘Asieh Abad Stories’, he stated: ‘The stories, under five titles — ‘Harmonica’, ‘Uncle’s Agate Ring’, ‘Mr. Khabbaz’, ‘Aboud’, and ‘Ebo’ — are dedicated to my childhood and adolescence, depicting the mental world of several southern teenagers, each aspiring to experience larger spaces in life.’
The director also spoke about the book ‘National Stories’, saying: ‘My father was an oil company employee, and due to the nationalization of the oil industry, my name was ‘Melli’ for several years, and they called me by this name until I went to school, when my official name became Reza. The titles in the book ‘National’ include ‘Television Arrived’, ‘Uncle Ice Cream Man’, ‘Ismail Hood’, ‘Ms. Esmat’, ‘Achaemenid Coin’, ‘Cycle’, ‘Oven’, ‘Child Bride’, ‘Income’, ‘Liar’, ‘Lice’, ‘Deposit’, ‘Hassan Mashouri’, ‘Watcher’, ‘Mysterious Chest’, ‘Majid Ice Cream’, ‘A Simple Event’, and ‘Noble Devil’. Among these, the story ‘Hassan Mashouri’ is about one of my classmates who was a thug and involved in smuggling, but possessed a strange quality of manliness.’
In another part of his speech, referring to the book ‘M. Soraya’s Nightmares’, he said: ‘This book was recently published. The title ‘M. Soraya’s Nightmares’ is an abbreviation where ‘M’ is the first letter of his own name, and ‘Soraya’ is his wife’s name, similar to the abbreviation A. Bamdad. It is about strange events in the lives of poets and writers.’
He continued: ”Soraya’s Nightmares’ is a wake-up call to the country’s literature and to writers and poets who sell their pens and become doubtful about how to escape this situation.’
He added: ‘M. Soraya is a renowned and jaded writer; he gathers his family to confess a horrifying truth. But what seems to be the beginning of a family conversation gradually turns into a journey into the darkness of his mind, a place between sleep and wakefulness, between reality and nightmare. In this house, every sound echoes from the past.’
Fayyazi said: ”M. Soraya’s Nightmares’ is a mirror before an intellectual lost in the shadow of his own name, striving to escape the recurrence of nightmares with the last word. In this session, Fayyazi read the story ‘Television Arrived’ from the book ‘National Stories’, which was well-received by the audience.’
The Khuzestani poet said at this session: ‘The Khuzestan Sugarcane and By-products Cultivation and Industries Organization has tried over these years to regularly and continuously hold most of its professional activities and social responsibilities through a series of literary sessions.’
Bahman Saki added: ‘Holding several consecutive rounds of the Shokarestan Festival helps to widely familiarize people with this industry, and with the continuation of this festival, people understand the significance of the sugarcane industry.’ Saki then recited two poems titled ‘Iran’ and ‘Shokarestan’.
Further in the ceremony, the book ‘M. Soraya’ written by Reza Fayyazi was unveiled.
