IRNA - The southwestern Iranian city of Shiraz is hosting the 13th International Conference for the Promotion of Persian Language and Literature.

The conference began on October 10 and will continue until October12, Iran Daily reported.

The event kicked off at University of Shiraz on Wednesday morning, concurrent with the 22nd commemoration of the National Day of Hafez, a highly revered 14th-century Persian poet and mystic whose poems are widely considered as the essence of the Iranian culture.

The conference is being attended by a number of researchers, scholars and professors of Persian language and literature, as well as prominent guests from Turkey, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan region and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

According to the scientific director of the conference, Kavous Hasanli, over 1,100 professors and researchers had submitted papers to the conference, of which 297 were ultimately judged to be fit for CDs and 70 papers for printing in books.

The conference is organized by Association for the Promotion of Persian Language and Literature, and covers special topics on �Hafezology�, which discusses the role of Hafez in the development of Iranian culture and Persian language and literature; and �Farsology� which is dedicated to topics related to languages, dialects and literary heritage of Fars Province.

The latest cultural, scientific and literary research on Persian language and literature are being presented in the event.