French Order of Academic Palms awarded to Lili Golestan
Source: Tehran Times

Iranian translator Lili Golestan, who is also the curator of Tehran’s Golestan Gallery, received France’s Order of Academic Palms during a ceremony at the Embassy of France in the Iranian capital on Monday November 17, 2014.

French Ambassador Bruno Foucher delivered a short speech before honoring Golestan with the order, which is awarded by the French Minister of Education to those who have rendered eminent service to French education and have contributed actively to the prestige of French culture, Honaronline reported on Tuesday.

Iranian translator and artist Lili Golestan (R) with the French Ambassador Bruno Foucher (photo by Shargh daily)

“In the animated and rich cultural atmosphere of Tehran, in which you can find no day without an event, Golestan Gallery has a special place,” Foucher stated.

He also praised Golestan for the efforts she made to introduce French writers, including Albert Camus, Jean Giraud and Romain Gary, to Persian readers.

“Your achievements show that you are among the very eminent women and France praises such persons. Indeed, such brilliant activities in the promotion of Iranian art and such a will for the introduction of French literature luminaries deserve appreciation,” he added.

Foucher then presented the order to Golestan and she also made a short speech.

“French literature is part of my soul,” she said and added that she has tried to introduce it to Persian readers.

“I have had a small gallery in this mega city for over a quarter of a century. This night’s meeting caused me to take a glance at the past and for the first time to ask myself exactly how many times I have organized exhibitions at this gallery. The result surprised me and I also felt more exhausted: 1040 exhibits. But, due the decoration I received tonight, I feel that it’s time to forget the 1040 exhibitions and also to shelve the forty books that I translated and the 340 articles that I wrote for newspapers and magazines, in order to ease my exhaustion for a while, only for a short while,” she stated.

She translated many books from world literature into Persian. Among the works are Eugene Ionesco’s “Story Number 3″, Maurice Druon’s “Tistou of the Green Thumbs”, Miguel Angel Asturias’ “The Man that Had it All, All, All”, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ “The Smell of the Guava Tree” and “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”.

Iranian author Mahmud Dowlatabadi was also awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in Tehran on Sunday evening.

France has decorated three Iranian personalities with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honors over the past six months: Vocalist Mohammadreza Shajarian received the order in June, cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh and filmmaker Dariush Mehrjuii are the other honorees.