TEHRAN -- The first edition of the “Yad-e Lamerd” Short Story and Poetry Literary Award will be held by Khaneh-ye Ravi, inviting writers and poets to document the suffering, resilience and experiences of the people of Lamerd through literary works.
The initiative aims to reflect the suffering of children and mothers in Lamerd and preserve their experiences as part of the region’s historical memory. Organizers have called on writers to use poetry and short stories to bring the voices of affected families to wider audiences and prevent their experiences from being forgotten.
The competition is open to all writers and poets. A free educational workshop will also be organized as part of the program, while cash prizes will be awarded to the first-, second- and third-place winners in each category. Selected works will subsequently be published in a book.
Interested participants can submit their entries by March 9, 2027 (Esfand 9, 1405), through the Bale messaging application to @Admin_khaneravii.
Further information and announcements are available through the award’s official channel at https://ble.ir/yadelamerd.
Organized under the slogan “Every Narrator Is a Voice,” the initiative seeks to use literature as a means of documenting collective experiences and safeguarding historical memory for future generations.
The announcement comes amid wider cultural efforts in Iran to preserve the memory of the victims of the Minab school tragedy, with government officials and prominent artists
highlighting the importance of literature, visual arts and historical documentation.
On Tuesday, Culture Minister Seyyed Abbas Salehi visited the “Minab School” group exhibition at the Art Bureau in Tehran, where works by contemporary Iranian painters addressed the tragedy.
Accompanied by cultural officials, Salehi met participating artists and viewed their works. He described the Minab school tragedy as a historical and global catastrophe, emphasizing that artistic efforts could help transform the event into an enduring message for national and international audiences.
He also praised the artists for documenting the tragedy through different visual perspectives, stressing the ability of painting and other visual arts to communicate powerful messages and engage public memory.
The exhibition featured works by artists including Behzad Shishegaran, Sirous Moqaddam, Gholam-Ali Taheri, Morteza Asadi, Kazem Chalipa and Abdolhamid Ghadirian.
In a separate development, Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri called for a coordinated cultural and international campaign to preserve the memory of Minab’s victims.
Speaking at a meeting of the committee following up on the Minab tragedy on October 20, 2026, he stressed that Minab should be regarded as more than a geographical location, describing it as an important historical and cultural issue.
Salehi-Amiri called for combining legal follow-up, documentation, media activities and artistic production to ensure that the tragedy remains part of collective memory in Iran and beyond.
He specifically highlighted the potential of books, poetry, cinema and theatre to communicate the human dimensions of the tragedy, particularly the loss of children, to younger generations and international audiences.