Farideh Shabanfar was born in 1945 in Tehran into a Jewish family. Her father, Ebrahim Shabanfar, was a skilled mobile vendor and a dedicated reader of scientific books and the poetry of renowned Iranian poets. He encouraged his children to pursue education. Their mother, Rebecca Asil, was a housewife with a taste for art, an emotion as tender as silk, and a voice that could have been from heaven. When alone, she would sometimes play the tar and sing songs, expressing her emotions through simple poetry she had composed and collected in a little booklet. If not for superstitions and discrimination against women, she would undoubtedly have become a talented tar player and poet.
Farideh Shabanfar began her primary education at the Alliance School on Jalah Road, Tehran. She received her high school diploma in literature. After passing the university entrance exams, she attended the University of Tehran, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1968. Continuing her higher education, she earned a master’s degree in “Social Management and Planning” in 1972.
She was soon employed as a child psychologist at the “Jevinet Charity Organization”, working in Jewish schools in Tehran with the support of the Jewish Women’s Organization and Dr. Sapir Hospital. Her work primarily focused on understanding and assisting children who faced mental, educational, behavioral, and emotional challenges within these schools. To evaluate these children’s cognitive abilities, she translated and employed an intelligence test she had tailored to Iranian culture. She considered these tasks valuable and spiritually fulfilling service, though regrettably, addressing their predicaments also brought her sadness and depression.
In 1975, Farideh Shabanfar took several exams and was finally accepted by the Educational Channel of Iran’s state-run television network. This channel aimed to deliver specialized education to school children via the television network. Subsequently, she was sent to the University of Florida in the United States on a scholarship for “Educational Technology”, with the mission to design educational programs for teachers. Upon her return, Farideh Shabanfar worked as a specialist and producer of educational programs for teachers. She wrote articles, programs, and films in this field, and in 1979, she translated a book titled “Sharayet-e Yadgiri” (i.e., Learning Conditions).
Her first fictional work, titled “Ghese-ye Parvaneh va Derakht va Jooybar” (i.e., The Tale of the Butterfly, the Tree, and the Stream), was published by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. By 1986, this book had already undergone ten editions.
In 1979, Farideh Shabanfar married, and the union resulted in the birth of a daughter named Ghazal. As the years passed, Ghazal also pursued higher education in educational psychology and became actively involved in social work, especially related to children, following in her mother’s footsteps.
After the revolution, Farideh Shabanfar and other Jewish colleagues were dismissed from the television organization without any stated reason. In those challenging circumstances, she had no choice but to stay home. She turned to translating literary and artistic books. Overall, she translated six books for various publishers, some of which were reprinted.
In 1984, Farideh Shabanfar made the difficult and reluctant decision to immigrate, leaving her homeland behind for the United States. Although the initial years away from home were not easy, she began translating medical articles for the “Jahan-e Pezeshki” (i.e., World of Medicine) Journal to adapt to her new life. She also resumed her studies, choosing child development, storytelling, and the English language at Santa Monica College. Later, she was employed at the Early Care and Education Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and simultaneously pursued a master’s degree in educational psychology at the same university. She retired 21 years later in 2015 to have more time for writing.
Farideh maintained her love for writing, frequently seizing opportunities to write or translate and pondering publishing her works as books. She fondly recalled her father’s insistence that she was a poet. In writing classes in school, her teachers always called her first to read out her homework — they said that she would become a good writer. In college, a literature professor wrote in her notebook, “You have a good taste; read more and don’t waste your talent. Why don’t you write?”
In the 1990s, “Cheshm Andaz Magazine” (i.e., Vision) in Los Angeles invited some of the Iranian Jewish Students Community members, including Farideh Shabanfar, to publish their articles in the magazine. This was a turning point for Farideh Shabanfar to showcase her writing talent. Her first published article blended storytelling with a critique of male domination and the injustices resulting from superstitions against women. Encouraged by its reception, she mixed social commentary and short stories to defend women’s rights.
Gradually, her short stories about women and their struggles were published in Persian magazines and newspapers as well as digital media outlets, including Barresiy-e Ketab (i.e., Book Review), Ava-ye Tab’id (i.e., Voice of Exile), Arman (i.e., Goal), Cheshm Andaz (i.e., Vision), Shofar, Asar (i.e., Effect), Chook (i.e., Owl), Madrese-ye Femenisti (i.e., Feminist School), and Peyk (i.e., Messenger), among many others.
Three of her short stories were selected as “Featured Stories” by the media. In 2017, a collection of her short stories, titled “Urooj-e Tooba -ye Taar Zan” (i.e., The Ascension of the Tar-Playing Blessing), was published in England because it was banned in Iran. Farideh Shabanfar has prepared another collection of her short stories for publication. Additionally, she has written some stories for children. Furthermore, on the Children’s Advocates website, she writes educational articles about raising healthy children from emotional and behavioral perspectives for parents and educators.
Despite being occupied with other tasks, she made sure to make time for translation. In 2013, she translated “Nocturno de Chile” (i.e., By Night in Chile) by Roberto Bolano for Morvarid Publications. Another book of hers, “Do Nime-ye Man” (i.e., Two Halves of Me), consists of works by Latin American women writers. It has been published in Iran and received well. Farideh Shabanfar is currently engrossed in reading and researching works by African women writers, intending to translate them in the near future. She hopes to explore the works of female fiction writers from Arab North African and Middle Eastern countries.
A list of some of Farideh Shabanfar’s published works:
Articles:
Translation of modern medical research articles into Persian for the Jahan-e Pezeshki (i.e., World of Medicine) Journal.
Articles about women, their challenges, restrictions, and rights in society.
Short articles on children’s healthy social and emotional growth for parents and educators on the Children’s Advocates website.
Books — Written and Translated:
• Ghese-ye Parvaneh, i.e., The Story of the Butterfly, Children’s story, 1979
• Zendegi va Asar-e Dieh Go Rodrigez Velazkwez Naghash-e Espaniyayi, i.e. Spanish Painter Diego Rodríguez Velázquez’s life and works, Spring 1982
• Maqalat-e David Alfaro Siqueiros Naghash-e Divari, The articles of David Alfaro Siqueiros the Wall Painter, Mehregan Publication, 1983
• Yadbudha-ye Dowran-e Vapasmandegi, Memories of the Time of Backwardness, Screenplay from revolutionary Cuba, Shenakht Publication, 1984
• Roman-e Maajaraaha-ye Joseph Andrews, The Adventures of Joseph Andrews, Shabahang Publication, 1984
• Zendegi va Asar-e Michaelangelo, Life and works of Italian Painter Michaelangelo, Shabahang Publication, 1990
• Roman-e Shab Hengam dar Shili, By Night in Chile, Roberto Bolano, Morvarid Publication, 2013
• Urooj-e Tooba-ye Taar Zan, The Ascension of the Tar-Playing Blessing, Short Stories Collection, 2017
• Do Nime-ye Man, Two Halves of Me, Works by Latin American Women Writers, Morvarid Publication, 2018
Being edited:
• The second collection of short stories, Farideh Shabani
• Gah Gaah Ke Baran Mibarad, Sometimes when it rains, Translation of works by African women fiction writers
• Eight children’s stories in Persian and English
Featured Stories:
• The short story “Goldan-e Boloor-e Shekasteh”, Broken Crystal Vase, Featured and published in the book “Gharch-ha va Adam-ha” i.e. Mushrooms and People
• The short story “Giyahan-e Afrighayi”, African Plants, Featured and published in the literary collection “Chook” (i.e., Owl) and the literary monthly magazine “Adabiyat-e Tab’id” (i.e., Exile Literature)
• The short story “Sefid-e Sefid Mesl-e Barf”, As White as Snow, Selected by the Bahram Sadeghi Short Story Competition