His Excellency Mr Rasoul Movahedian, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, co-hosted a dinner at Pembroke College last night to celebrate the 85th birthday of one of the western world's foremost experts on the history and literature of Iran.

The dinner also marked the publication of the latest book by Peter Avery OBE, The Collected Works of Hafiz of Shiraz , after a lifetime's engagement with the poetry of the Shirazi master. Hafiz, who died in 1390, is honoured as the greatest lyric poet of Iran, the Shakespeare of Persian literature.

Peter Avery's lifelong interest in Persian poetry began when he was introduced to a translation of the poems of Omar Kayyam as a child.

His undergraduate education, at the University of Liverpool, was interrupted by World War II, in which he served in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve. It was here that he began to learn Persian.

Upon demobilisation in 1946, he entered the School of Oriental and African Studies to read Arabic and Persian, graduating in 1949 to work initially, until 1951, as Educational Liaison Officer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

After further employment in Iraq and Iran, in 1958 Peter Avery became a University Lecturer in Persian Language, Literature and History at Cambridge. In 1963 he was elected Fellow of King's College.

Upon his retirement in 1990 he became a Life Fellow of King's College. In 2001 “for the Promotion of Oriental Studies” he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Peter Avery's publications include translations of the Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam, of ‘Attar's Mantiq al-tayr and of the poems of Hafiz, as well as Modern Iran, published in 1963.

He served on the Editorial Board of the definitive, multi-volume Cambridge History of Iran from its inception, and edited the final volume, “From Nadir Shah to the Islamic Republic”, published in 1991.

In his speech of thanks Peter Avery said: "Let us think of Iran as a wellspring of a civilising grace and beauty that can afford cultural and spiritual nourishment to the whole world. If the Iranians are dubbed a proud people, all I can say is how richly they merit their pride, and how in response they deserve our utmost respect and understanding."

Dr Charles Melville, Senior Fellow and Director of Oriental Studies at Pembroke College said last night: "Peter Avery has taught Persian language and literature to generations of students, but more than that he has imbued them with a love of the subject and communicated his own enthusiasm for it. For many Iranians too, Peter Avery 'is' Cambridge and his rooms in King's College are a corner of Iran."

The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz is published by Archetype - linked above right.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.