The Iranian Literary Field: An Overview

This chapter first examines the polarisation of the independent and government sectors according to political orientation and explains the history of this division in the Iranian literary field. The next section considers the restrictions to the market, both those internal to Iran (from censorship to material constraints on paper supplies) and those external to Iran (sanctions, lack of copyright agreements). Finally, I analyse two institutions that represent how the field works on its margins: the Saadi Foundation, a recently founded cultural institution that focuses on Persian language, and the Union of Tehran Publishers and Booksellers.