Persian Literature and Women's Studies Farzaneh Milani completed her graduate studies in Comparative Literature in 1979 at the University of California in Los Angeles. Her dissertation, “Forugh Farrokhzad: A Feminist Perspective” was a critical study of the poetry of a pioneering Iranian poet. A past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women Studies in America, Milani was the recipient of All University Teaching Award in 1998 and nominated for Virginia Faculty of the Year in 1999.
Milani has published over 100 articles, epilogues, forewords, and afterwords in Persian and in English. She has served as the guest editor for two special issues of Nimeye-Digar, Persian Language Feminist Journal (on Simin Daneshvar and Simin Behbahani), IranNameh (on Simin Behbahani), and Iranian Studies: Journal of the International Society for Iranian Studies (on Simin Behbahani). She has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Ms. Magazine, Readers Digest, USA Today, and N.P.R.’s All Things Considered. She has presented more than 150 lectures nationally and internationally. A former director of Studies in Women and Gender, Milani is Professor of Persian Literature and Women Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. She was a Carnegie Fellow (2006-2007).
- Iranian Woman of the Year, International Society of Iranian Women Studies, 2012.
- Latifeh Yarshater Book Award for Words Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement, presented by the International Society for Iranian Studies.
- Lois Roth Literary Award in Translation for A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani (with Kaveh Safa).
- Carnegie Scholar, 2006-2007.
- National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002-2003.
- University Seminar's Teaching Award, 2001.
- Storr's Fellowship, 2001.
- Nominated: Virginia Teacher of the Year Award, 1999.
- All University Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Virginia, 1998.
Books and Special Issues
- Words, Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement
- Les Mots sont Mes Armes: Les Femmes Ecrivains Iraniennes et la Liberte de Movement, translated by Jalal Alavinia and Therese Marini;
- An Iranian Icarus: The Life and Poetry of Forugh Farrokhzad (in progress)
- The Gender of Modernity and Counter-Modernity in Iran (forthcoming)
- A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani, with Kaveh Safa
- Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers
- Guest editor, The Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1, February 2008.
- Guest editor, Iran Nameh: a Journal of Iranian Studies, Special issues on Simin Behbahani, Vol. 23, No. 1 and 2, Summer and Spring 2006.
- Guest editor, Nimeye Digar: Special Issue on Simin Behbahani, Autumn 1993.
- Guest editor, Nimeye Digar: Special Issue on Simin Daneshvar, Fall 1988.
- Poems published in Nimeye Digar, Par, Barrayand, Daneshju, Omid, and Avaye Portland.
       
Selected Articles
- "Re-mapping the Cultural Geography of Iran: Islam, Women, and Freedom of Movement," Forum on Public Policy: Equity at the Intersection of Women's Mobility, Identity and Discourse, ed. Lisa Driscoll, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2008, pp. 9- 22.
- “Best Sellers and Half-Truths: Misreading Iran in America,” What Should I Read Next? ed. Jessica Feldman and Robert Stilling (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008), p. 13-16.
- "Shahrnush Parsipur: A Multicultural Novelist," in A Cross-generational Perspective: Achievements and Challenges of Iranian Women, ed. Golnaz Amin (Cambridge, MA: Iranian Women's Studies Foundation, 2008), pp. 40-47.
- "On Women's Captivity in the Islamic World," Middle East Report, Spring 2008, Number 246, pp. 40-46. Also available here.
- “Simin Behbahani: Iran’s National Poet,” The Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol. 41, no. 1, February 2008.
- “Yeki Bud, Yeki Nabud,” Autobiographical Themes in Turkish Literature: Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives, eds. Olcay Akyidiz, Halim Kara, Borte Sagaster (Istanbul: Oriental-Institut, 2007), pp. 219-225.
- “The Rainbow World of Simin Behbahani,” Iran Nameh: a Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol. 23, no. 1 and 2, pp. 9-24.
- “Images of Men in Persian Literature,” Montreal Lectures: On Iranian Literature and Culture, ed. Reza Farokhfal (Montreal: Lithcom, 2005), pp. 263-277.
- “On Walls, Veils, and Silences: Writing Lives in Iran,” The Southern Review, summer 2002, Vol. 38, no. 3.
- “The Politics and Poetics of Sex Segregation in Persian Romances,” Discourse on Gender/Gendered Discourse in the Middle East, ed. Boaz Shoshan, Westport: Praeger, 2000, pp. 1-14, 136-141.
- “The Mediatory Guile of the Nanny in Persian Romances,” Iranian Studies, Vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 181-201.
- “The Deportation of Barbie from Iran,” Iris: A Journal About Women, no. 38, Winter/Spring 1999, pp. 16-20.
- “Voyeurs, Nannies, Winds, and Gypsies in Persian Literature,” Critique: Journal for Critical Studies of the Middle East, no. 14, spring 1999, pp. 107-123.
- “Pistachios, Camels, and Cement Blocks: The Familiar and the Shock of the New in Behbahani’s Ghazals,” with Kaveh Safa; Iranian Studies, Special Issue on Modern Persian Literature Vol. 30, no. 3-4, Summer/Fall 1997, pp. 295-300.
- “Simin Behbahani: A Few Poems,” The Muslim World, Special Issue on Women in the Islamic Maelstrom, Vol. LXXXVI, no. 2, April 1996.
- “Judith Shakespeare and Parviz E'tessami,” Once a Dewdrop Accosted A Rose: Essays on the Poetry of Parvin E'tessami, ed. Heshmet Moayyad, Costa Mesa: Mazda, 1995.
- “The Birth of Neotraditionalism in Post-Revolutionary Iranian Women Writers,” Reconstructing Gender in the Middle East: Tradition, Identity and Power, eds. Fatima Muge Gocek and Shiva Balaghi, Columbia University Press, 1994.
- “Hanan al-Shaykh's Life Stories,” AMEWS, Vol. 9, no.4, December 1994.
- “Shaherzad Unveiled: Women Writers in Post-Revolutionary Iran,” Introduction to Stories By Iranian Women Since The Revolution, trans. Sorraya Sullivan, University of Texas Press, 1991.
- “Veiled Voices: Women's Autobiographies in Iran.” Women's Autobiographies in Contemporary Iran, ed. Afsaneh Najmabadi, Harvard University Press, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 1990.
- “Nakedness Regained: Farrokhzod's Garden of Eden,” Literature East and West, Guest Editor Michael Hillmann, Vol. 24, 1989.
- “Forugh Farrokhzod,” Persian Literature Persian Heritage Series, ed. Ehsan Yarshater, State University of New York Press, 1988. pp. 367-380.
- “Jalal's Sunset,” translated from the Persian with Jo-Anne Hart. Iranian Studies, Vol. 19, no. 1, 1986. pp. 47-63.
- “Power, Prudence, and Print: Daneshvar and Self-Censorship,” Iranian Studies, Vol. 18, no. 1, 1986. pp. 325-347.
- “Conflicts between Traditional Roles and Poetry,” Women and the Family in Iran, ed. Asghar Fathi. E.J. Brill, 1985. pp. 226-237.
- “Formation, Confrontation, and Emancipation in the Poetry of Forugh Farrokhzod,” trans. David Martin, A Rebirth, Mazda Publishing, 1985. (Reprint: 1997.) pp.123-133.
- “Conformity and Confrontation: A Comparison of Two Iranian Women Poets,” Women and the Family in the Middle East: New Voices of Change, ed. Elizabeth Fernea, University of Texas Press, 1985. pp.317-330.
- “Revitalization: Some Reflections on the Poetry of Taherah Saffar-Zadeh,” Women and Revolution in Iran, ed. Guity Nashat, Westview Press, 1983. pp. 129-140.
- “Love and Sexuality in the Poetry of Farrokhzod: A Reconsideration,” Iranian Studies, Vol. 15, no. 1-4, 1982.
- “Forugh Farrokhzod: A Feminist Perspective,” an afterword to Bride of Acacias. Colorado: Caravan Press, 1982. pp. 141-147.
Selected Opinion Pieces and Commentaries
- "The Turban, Defiled by Suicide Bombers, Has Biblical and Emotional Roots," The New York Times, 7 Oct 2011.
- "Saudi Arabia's Freedom Riders," The New York Times, 12 June 2011.
- “‘Islamic bicycle’ can’t slow Iranian women,” USA Today, Friday, June 29, 2007, 15A; reprinted in Iran-Va-Jahan; Daneshjoo; Payvand News.
- “No More Walls: I Want My Country Back,” The Daily Progress, Sunday, May 6, 2007; reprinted in Payvand’s Iran News.
- “Iran Misrepresented in Media,” featured in The Daily Texan, Tuesday, February 27, 2007, p. 6A.
- “Iran an Enigma to Americans,” an op-ed for The Daily Progress, Sunday, February 18, 2007, pp. B6 and B8; reprinted in Payvand's Iran News.
- “Drawing the Line between Private and Public,” a commentary aired on All Things Considered, National Public Radio, February 13, 2006.
- “Uncovering Coverings: A Crash Course,” Washington Post, Sunday, October 22, 2006, B5; reprinted as “Take the Time to Consider the Woman Behind the Veil,” in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 27, 2006.
- "The Turban, the Veil, and the Sword," The Daily Progress, Sunday, February 19, 2006; reprinted in Payvand’s Iran News.
- "Lipstick Politics in Iran," The New York Times, August 19, 1999.
- Member, Governor Warner’s Council on the Status of Women in Virginia (2002-2005).
- Advisory Editorial Board, The Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures, Brill Academic Publishers.
- Editorial Board, The Virginia Quarterly Review (2002-2005).
- President, Association of Middle Eastern Women's Studies in America (1994-1996).
- Member, Board of Executive Directors of Middle East Studies, Middle East Studies Association of North America (1991-1994).
- Executive Officer of the American Association of Persian Teachers, (1990-1993).
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