Soheila Baski, Contemporary Translator, Novelist, and Entrepreneur, Passed Away

Soheila Baski, according to reports from her family members, passed away on June 6, 2015, while meeting with her family in Istanbul after years of battling illness. Soheila Baski (born 1953) was a very kind and compassionate friend to her colleagues, a risk-taking, brave, hardworking, steadfast, and creative woman in her professional field, a candid and open person with her friends, and a role model in overcoming discrimination against women in Iran after the revolution. She quickly demonstrated to her male colleagues in every activity that she was not only not a second-class citizen or a second-class gender, but she could manage dozens and hundreds of men and women around her. She was project-oriented and did not rest until she completed her tasks. She prepared dozens of her colleagues for the continuation of the projects she initiated. Soheila graduated from the management program at the Gilan School of Management and the economics program at Michigan State University in the United States. After the revolution, she began teaching at universities in the country but was dismissed from teaching during the Cultural Revolution. Her translations were products of her years of confinement at home, which were published years later due to the strictness of the Ministry of Culture. Soheila was not one to give in when it came to publishing her works and took every opportunity to bypass censorship. When her works were banned during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, she published them in Germany and Sweden. Her delicate nature, reflected in her stories, never hindered her rationality and pragmatism in her educational, publishing, and humanitarian activities. Although Soheila was a secular and free-thinking individual, she had no qualms about connecting and collaborating with those who did not think like her (in both public and private sectors). Her attitude, demeanor, and professional style serve as an exemplary model for a transitioning and developing society. Soheila Baski left behind lasting and valuable works in four domains: 1. Translation: She translated the biographies of two prominent and free-thinking women of the world, namely Emma Goldman (a political activist advocating for the freedom of the human mind from constraints such as religion and government) and Virginia Woolf (a novelist and feminist literary critic) from English to Persian (both published by Niloufar). Soheila thought about the theoretical and practical advancement of the women's movement in Iran in translating these two works. For this reason, activists in the women's movement in Iran regard her as an ally. 2. Storytelling: Several short story collections and novels have been published by Baski: two short story collections, "Small Fragment" (Agah) and "Bibi Peak" (Niloufar), and novels "In Eclipse" (Forough Germany and Niloufar), "A Past That Does Not Pass" (Baran Sweden and Niloufar), "In the Tale of Building a Bed in Bam," and "Particle" (both by Forough Germany). "Small Fragment" won the Golshiri Award in 2002. Her latest short story collection titled "Instant Photos" was published a few weeks ago. 3. Entrepreneurship: Soheila believed in establishing civil institutions and initiating activities in both the public and private sectors, but during times when work in the private sector was not possible (during the war), she did not overlook the public sector. With this perspective, after leaving the public sector (the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development and the management of the Abadi magazine, which she founded and with which I had the honor of collaborating), she founded the Architect Award, the specialized magazine of architects (the most prestigious magazine in this field), and the "City" magazine in the field of urban planning and management (the first magazine of its kind and a valuable example) and initiated educational classes in urban planning. Her departure from the public sector was also due to her insistence on maintaining her personal and human dignity: "In 1997, when Mr. Khatami came to power, contrary to expectations, the posts for inspecting women's clothing and items that had long been abolished were reinstated. I wrote a letter to Mr. Khatami in protest; the letter was responded to by the security of the Ministry of Housing, and they summoned me. They provided a form for me to fill out, and I refused because the form was for employees, not for those like us who worked on contracts, and they banned me from entering the Ministry of Housing buildings." (Interview with Memar Net site) The paradox of the time was that Soheila was very active during the 1997 elections for Khatami and hoped that the reformists would resolve some issues. For Soheila, leaving the public sector did not mean the end of her work in the public sphere. She was successful in the private sector because she understood the secrets of trade and management and could launch a magazine with the help of architects and commercial advertisements in a country where everyone looks to the government for cultural activities. The Architect magazine is unparalleled in terms of receiving advertisements from the private sector. She produced her goods for the market: "In my opinion, the notion that magazines do not sell and that people in Iran are not readers is not entirely correct. We must produce something that they want, not just satisfy ourselves. The magazine should be for the people who pay for it and buy it; its content should be converted into money; that is, it should be useful to them." (Same source) Although the "Abadi" magazine was published by the public sector, its issues did not remain in warehouses, and its five thousand print run sold out. Although she studied management and economics, the culture of architecture and urban planning in Iran will always owe her. 4. Humanitarian Activities: After the Bam earthquake, Soheila was one of the most active individuals in humanitarian activities in the city. The novel "In the Tale of Building a Bed in Bam" is a product of her observations resulting from her activities in Bam. The number of women like Soheila in Iran is not small. They are less recognized.