“I’m incredibly happy and honoured to have been appointed, and I look forward to letting poetry as a form of knowledge meet more classical humanistic and sociological research. I feel related to Tage Danielsson in both a literary and an ideological sense, he’s an important forerunner for us rhyming poets in the labour movement. I’m very interested in how art in general and poetry in particular can be a way to explore and reshape the world,” says Athena Farrokhzad.
She is active as a poet, dramatist, translator and literary critic. She made her debut in 2013 with Vitsvit (White Blight) and has since published three more poetry volumes. Her books have been translated into many languages and her plays have been performed on stages in Sweden, Norway, Germany and Turkey.
Art as a form of knowledge
She often thinks about what creative knowledge is, or what existential and societal knowledge of the world can be contained in an artistic work. She intends to explore these thoughts more closely during her time at LiU together with students and colleagues.
“I look forward to sharing my knowledge and contributing to academia in any way I can. It’s a real luxury to have not only writing time but also an academic context.”
Athena Farrokhzad’s poetry deals with what is going on in society. From language and language development to migration, relationships between children and parents, global political conditions – topics that can be found in LiU’s courses and programmes.
Learning to write by listening
She taught at Biskops-Arnö writing school for many years, which will have an influence on her teaching at LiU. One method she uses is called “text conversation” where a group talks about a text in the author’s presence, while the author sits quietly and listens.
“By listening to other people’s readings, you learn to become a better reader of your own text.”
A modern-day Tage with poetic tools
Athena Farrokhzad works as a literary director at Kulturhuset in Stockholm together with her author colleague Ida Linde, and will continue to do so half-time while being a professor at LiU. She will therefore hold the Tage Danielsson professorship for two years, instead of one.
“I was very happy and surprised when I was told that I was going to be a professor. I see similarities between myself and Tage Danielsson, not only as creative minds but also as human beings. He was a popular educator. Someone who wanted to talk with a lot of people about things that were relevant to many. He addressed a wide variety of issues, while never compromising on complexity. He made poetry available to many, something I also strive for. Like me, he was a poet who worked in a left-wing tradition and his socially engaged writing had a lot of humour in it.”
Athena Farrokhzad is very much socially engaged. Her ambition as a professor is to integrate poetry and drama into academic research and teaching.
“I’m concerned with what knowledge is contained in an artistic work, as well as what knowledge can be conveyed using literature as a tool. For me, poetry is a kind of linguistic basic research, a way to study the world closely based on its smallest elements that create meaning. I truly think that interesting things will arise from bringing art and research together and letting them cross-fertilise each other as forms of knowledge.”
