15 stories
Essay
Persian calligraphy: how to read a page
Persian is written right to left in an Arabic-based script, and the most admired hand, nastaliq, looks as if it hangs from a line. A few simple things make a page easier to see. 14 November 2026
Note
Chaharshanbe Suri and Sizdah Bedar: the fire and the picnic
Two customs frame the Persian new year: a night of bonfires before it, and a day outdoors on the thirteenth day after. 14 November 2026
Essay
Hafez and the habit of Persian poetry
Poetry in Iran is not only read, it is quoted at tables, consulted in times of choice and learned by heart. Hafez of Shiraz is the best-loved voice. 14 November 2026
Essay
Iranian New Wave cinema before 1979
In the late 1960s and 1970s a group of Iranian filmmakers turned from popular melodrama to cinema about village life, poverty and everyday experience. Their work was often censored and is still admired. 14 November 2026
Essay
Isfahan: a vocabulary of light
Three words, iwan, muqarnas and tile, explain much of what you see on Naqsh-e Jahan Square. 14 November 2026
Feature
Nowruz: the oldest new year
A spring festival that begins at the equinox and is kept from Iran to Central Asia. Its customs are well documented; its origins are not. 14 November 2026
Feature
Persian carpets: knots, regions and workshops
A knotted carpet is a textile, a map of a place and a record of hands. A few ideas help you read one. 14 November 2026
Essay
Persian instruments: a short guide
Seven instruments give Persian music its sound: three plucked or struck strings, a bowed fiddle, a reed flute and two drums. 14 November 2026
Essay
Persian miniature painting and the Shahnameh
Small, jewel-like paintings made to illustrate books gave the Persian tradition some of its best-known images, and the Shahnameh gave painters their favourite stories. 14 November 2026
Feature
Qanats, windcatchers and ice houses: engineering for a dry land
Much of Iran is dry. Builders answered with underground water channels, towers that catch the wind and cone-shaped stores for winter ice: low-tech systems that shaped whole cities. 14 November 2026
Essay
Radif and dastgah: how Persian classical music is organised
Persian classical music is learned by ear from a teacher, built from a large body of melodies and shaped afresh by every performer. A short guide to the system and its words. 14 November 2026
Feature
Taarof: the art of Persian politeness
A host offers, a guest refuses, the host insists. Taarof is a system of ritual courtesy that confuses visitors and makes sense once you see how it works. 14 November 2026
Feature
The Persian bazaar: a city within a city
A bazaar is a building, a market, a social network and a public space. Its covered passages and courtyards are some of the most important architecture in Iranian cities. 14 November 2026
Feature
The Persian garden: paradise with a water channel
A walled rectangle, four parts, running water and shade: an old design for a dry land, which gave English the word 'paradise'. 14 November 2026
Feature
Yalda: the longest night
On the night of the winter solstice Iranian families stay up together, eat red fruit and read poetry. The custom is simple, and its history is more complicated than it looks. 14 November 2026