Parvin E'tesami (Persian: پروین اعتصامی, March 16, 1907– April 5, 1941), also Parvin Etesami was a 20th century Persian poet of Iran. According to Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, her given name was Rakhshanda(Persian: رخشنده).
Parvin E'tesami was born in 1907 in Tabriz to Mirza Yusuf Etesami Ashtiani (E'tesam-al-Molk), who in turn was the son of Mirza Ebrahim Khan Mostawfi Etesam-al-Molk. Mirza Ebrahim Khan Mostawfi Etesam-al-Molk was originally from Ashtiyan, but moved to Tabriz and was appointed financial controller of the province of Azerbaijan by the Qajar administration. Parvin had four brothers and her mother died in 1973.
Her family moved to Tehran early in her life, and in addition to the formal schooling, she obtained a solid understanding of Arabic and classical Persian literature from her father.
She studied at the American Girls College in Tehran, graduated in 1924 from the Iran Bethel, an American high school for girls. Afterwards, she taught for a while at that school. In 1926, she received an invitation to become the tutor of the queen of the new Pahlavi court, but she refused.
In 1934, she was married to a cousin of her father and moved to the city of Kermanshah. But the marriage only lasted for ten weeks and she returned back to Tehran.
In 1938-39 she worked for several months at the library of the Teacher Training College (Danesh-saraayeh 'Ali). Her father's death in 1938 bereft Parvin of his loving support and virtually severed her contact with the outside world. Her sudden death only three years after her father shocked the country and was mourned in many elegies. She was buried near her father in Qom.
