2018 recipient of the AFTRS/ABC Selwyn Speight scholarship, Pariya Taherzadeh, has produced a feature for the ABC’s History Listen called Escape from Iran.
She was awarded the scholarship which is made available through a bequest from the late, distinguished ABC journalist Selwyn Speight.
The program feature details how Pariya and her mother escaped from Iran on camel back following the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Iranians of the Bahai faith who had prospered during the Shah’s modern reign suddenly found themselves disenfranchised, and many faced harsh discrimination. Strict laws for women also began to be enforced.
Pariya arrived in Australia with her parents as a toddler in 1989. The couple had been ostracized in their war-torn home country because of their interfaith marriage and were granted refugee status.
Pariya says “The ABC producers were so amazing to work with, they really guided and mentored me through the entire process. The faith, trust and freedom of creativity I was given has been heart-warming. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it for the rest of my life… if it wasn’t for AFTRS I wouldn’t have been able to do it! So thank you!”
