Iraj Parsinejad studied Persian literature (BA, University of Tehran) and Linguistics (MA, Wolfson College, Oxford). He is the author of A History of Literary Criticism in Iran (IBEX, 2003). He will discuss the origins of literary modernity in Iran including the contributions of Ali Akhundzade, Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani, Mirza Malkom Khan, Abd al-Rahim Talebof, and Zayn al-‘Abedin Maraghe’i.