Iranian translator to bring Korean works to world
The Iranian translator Farideh Mahdavi-Damghani visited Korea for the first time this month to pursue introducing more Korean works to her native Iran.
Although not yet well known in Korea, Mahdavi-Damghani is a noted translator in both her home country and also in Europe. Having won numerous awards such as the Florence Literary Prize in 2004, one of the most prestigious literary awards after the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, she is also the first non-Italian to win an award from the President of Italy for her noteworthy translations.
Mahdavi-Damghani has traveled around the world in search if interesting projects and collaborations, and though other Asian countries have caught her eye, she explained that Korea was her favorite.
Given her profession, reading may come as an easy way for Mahdavi-Damghani to learn more about another country, but unfortunately, she was not able to find many Korean books translated into Persian, let alone English, French or Italian, all the languages which she speaks and writes fluently. This was exactly why she decided to introduce more Korean works to overseas readers, particularly in other Asian regions.