Farzaneh Milani, chair of the department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia, received the Latifeh Yarshater Book Award from the International Society for Iranian Studies. The award is given every two years to a book that contributes to the status of women in Persian societies. Professor Milani was honored for her book, Words Not Swords: Iranian Women Writers and the Freedom of Movement (Syracuse University Press).
Professor Milani was born and raised in Tehran but was educated in French and American schools. She is a graduate of the University of California at Hayward and earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Here is a video on Farzaneh Milani made on the occasion of her being named Woman of the Year by the Iranian Women Studies Foundation this past June.