2015 Iran: Sepideh Jodeyri
The Norwegian Association of Literary Translators
Oslo, February 25th 2015
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Hassan Rouhani
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellency,
It has come to the attention of PEN International, the Norwegian Writers in Prison Committee
and the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators that translator and writer Sepideh
Jodeyri is being harassed as a consequence of her having translated into Persian Julie Maroh’s
award-winning graphic novel graphic novel La vie d Adle, a translation that was published in
Paris.
This book, about the life of a teenage girl, inspired a movie that won both the 2013 Cannes
Film Festival’s Palme d’Or from the official jury and the FIPRESCI Prize. We are deeply
concerned to learn that, following the publication in Iran of a further book, this time a volume
of her own poems, Sepideh Jodeyri has been subjected to a witch hunt by the conservative
media in her home country, under the allegation that she supports homosexuality.
We strongly call for the Iranian government to step in to protect the fundamental rights of
Sepideh Jodeyri, her publisher in Iran, and the director of the museum where the book launch
was meant to take place. It is our understanding that he has been dismissed from his post as a
result of this regrettable condemnation of Jodeyri’s work.
Yours sincerely,
Copy: The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
