Sepideh Jodeyri

[1] A winner of the Jovellanos International Poetry Prize in 2015 for one of her poems, Chãk, and a graduate in chemical engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology, Jodeyri has published several works, including six poetry collections, a collection of short stories and an anthology of her poems.

She has also translated poetry books by Edgar Allan Poe and Jorge Luis Borges as well as the graphic novel, Blue Is the Warmest Color by Jul Maroh into Persian.

Shortly after, Jodeyri's works were banned inside Iran, her close friends were put in prison, forcing her to leave the country and move to Italy in February 2011.

The prize included 5 Bahar-e Azadi gold coins[3] (total value at the time about 14.5 million rials,[4] equivalent to $1,400 USD or about 1,050 euros).

Sponsored by Alghadir hospital chair Farideh Farhadi, ophthalmologist Fatemeh Haghbin, biologist Azam Paki and poet-critic Fatemeh Salarvand, the judging committee included Jodeyri herself (as the chair), poet-translators Azita Ghahreman and Pegah Ahmadi, poet-critics Roya Tafti, Bahareh Rezaei and Mehri Jafari.