Poets and Pahlevans
A Journey into the Heart of Iran
Marcello Di Cintio prepares for his “journey into the heart of Iran” with the utmost diligence. He takes lessons in Farsi, researches Persian poetry and sharpens his wrestling skills by returning to the mat after a gap of some years. Knowing that there is a special relationship between heroic poetry and the various styles of traditional Persian wrestling, he sets out to discover how Iranians “reconcile creativity with combat.”
From the moment of his arrival in Tehran, the author is overwhelmed by hospitality. He immerses himself in male company in tea houses, conversing while smoking the qalyun or water pipe. Iranian men are only too willing to talk, especially about politics. Confusingly, he is told conflicting statements–that all Iranians love George…
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August 7, 2007MARCELLO DI CINTIO is the author of three books of travelogue including Poets and Pahelvans: A Journey Into the Heart of Iran and Walls: Travels Along the Barricades, which won the 2012 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Di Cintio is also a magazine writer whose work can be found in publications such as The Walrus, Canadian Geographic, The International New York Times, Condé Nast Traveller, Eighteen Bridges and Afar. Di Cintio is a former writer-in-residence with the Calgary Distinguished Writers Program and the Palestine Writing Workshop. His most recent book is Song of the Caged Bird: Words as Resistance in Palestine. Marcello lives in Calgary.
Song of the Caged Bird
Marcello Di Cintio