Iranian people, literati to celebrate National Sadi Day

TEHRAN,Apr.20(MNA) – Groups of Iranian people and literati are scheduled to come together at Fars National Library and Archives in Shiraz to commemorate Sadi, the creator of the classical Persian masterpieces Gulistan and Bustan, on Monday, which is National Sadi Day. The meeting has been organized by the Center for the Study of Sadi based in Shiraz, which is Sadi’s birthplace and also home to his tomb. The focus of this year’s meeting is on the tradition and innovation in Sadi’s works and several scholars will read their articles on this issue during the meeting, the director of the center, Kurosh Kamali Sarvestani, said in press release on Friday. Scholars Asghar Dadbeh, Mir Jalaleddin Kazzazi, Sirus Shamisa, Gholamreza Khaki and the Spanish translator of the Gulistan, Joaquin Rodríguez Vargas, will deliver speeches. Sadi (c. 1213-1291) is known for his works the Bustan (The Orchard) and the Gulistan (The Rose Garden), which have been translated into almost every major language. Andre du Ryer was the first European to present Sadi to the West by means of a partial French translation of the Gulistan in 1634. Adam Olearius followed soon with a complete translation of the Bustan and the Gulistan into German in 1654. British orientalists Edward Backhouse Eastwick (1814–1883) Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) and several other Western translators rendered the Gulistan and the Bustan into English.