Farzaneh Milani

Born and raised in Teheran, Iran, Farzaneh Milani attended French primary and secondary schools. She earned her BA in French Literature in 1970 from California State University at Hayward. Transferring to the University of California in Los Angeles, she completed her graduate studies in Comparative Literature in 1979. Her dissertation, Forugh Farrokhzad: A Feminist Perspective, was a critical study of the poetry of a pioneering Iranian woman poet. Milani taught Persian Language and Literature at UCLA for four years before coming to the University of Virginia in 1986. Past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women Studies in America, Milani was the recipient of Alumni Teaching Award in 1998. She is the author of "Veils and Words: The Emerging Voice of Iranian Women Writers," "A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani" (with Kaveh safa), She has served as the guest editor of two special issues of "Nimeye Digar on Simin Daneshvar and Simin Behbahani. Milani has written over 60 articles, book chapters, introductions, and afterwards in Persian and English and lectured at over 100 colleges and universities nationally and internationally. Her poems have been published in "Nimeye Digar," "Par," "Barrayand," "Daneshju," "Omid," and "Avaye Portland." Currently, she is Director of Studies in Women and Gender and Professor of Persian and Women Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She teaches courses in Persian literature and cinema, Islam, and cross-cultural studies of women.