Rabia Balkhi | The First Women Poet of Dari Language

This is the first episode from 'Voices from the Afghan Art Scene' and we will talk about an Afghan woman, she is known as the pioneering female poet of the Persian or Dari language:Rabia Balkhi.A legendary woman was born in the 10th century in the city of Balkh, Afghanistan, in a royal family. Rabia Balkhi father was a chieftain and a respected figure of the time and a great patron of Persian poetry, literature and art who had access to the king’s court and forum of king’s chamber poets.From a very young age, she accompanied her father to the poets’ forum. an afghan girl growing up in an environment where the whole chamber was filled with men, and she was the only girl listening to the poetry recited by the renowned court poets. Through her attendance at the king’s court poet’s forum, Rabia Balkhi developed an interest in non-mystic poetry, thus a well-educated afghan girl or as portrayed by Awfi "boy-chasing intelligent woman" arose. who would go down in history as the first female poet of the Persian/Dari language.