Nowruz Festival: The Vines of Love
Sunday, March 15, 2026
1:15 - 4:15 p.m.
Central Library
Nowruz Festival: A Free Bilingual Celebration of Spring for All
The Los Angeles Public Library’s Nowruz Festival offers entertaining, educational, and enriching activities and presentations for patrons of all ages, including author events, music performances, workshops, crafts, and more in Persian and English.
Nowruz is a three-thousand-year tradition to celebrate the beginning of Spring, which marks the start of the Persian New Year. Our Nowruz Festival highlights these traditions through a variety of concurrent events.
- The Vines of Love Show featuring performances by local artists with storytelling by Tara Grammy*
- Author events in English featuring Abdi Nazemian and Zoe Ghahremani
- Author events for children, teens, and adults in English and Persian (Farsi)
- Nowruz games and crafts
- Workshops: pottery, mosaic tiles
- Poetry reading in English and Persian (Farsi)
- Persian musical instruments demos with pop-up singing and dancing
- Reptiles from Persia
- Persian book fair
- Traditional Haft Seen display
*Free tickets available at the festival on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
The Vines of Love Artwork
Each year, the Nowruz Festival is shaped around a central theme, and the festival artwork expresses it visually and conceptually. This year, The Vines of Love centers wine as the thematic thread, connecting all elements of the Nowruz Festival. Learn more about the theme, the artists, and the process.
The Nowruz Festival 2026 artwork connects this cultural heritage to the core purpose and mission of the library. The Los Angeles Central Library is the arena where the culture and wisdom of the East and West converge to enlighten and educate the people of Los Angeles.
Learn more about the theme, the artists, and the process:
2026 Nowruz Festival Artwork
Artists and Credits
The festival theme and artwork concept were developed by a group of Iranian-American Angelenos who collectively brought the artwork to life:
Artist: Shirin Sadri
Contributions: Nowruz Signage, Night Sky Backdrop
Shirin is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist working with ceramics, metal, and wearable forms. Her practice is rooted in material exploration and hand-driven processes, resulting in sculptural objects that reflect intimacy, imperfection, and quiet presence. Shirin designed, cut and finished the copper Nowruz sign, hand-drew the night sky backdrops, and joined the artwork assembling team to install the Nowruz Festival 2026.
Artist: Hamid Rastegar
Contributions: Door and the Arched Head, Wooden Stage
Hamid is a master scheduler in the aerospace industry, where he specializes in coordinating complex production timelines and ensuring programs run smoothly. Outside of work, he enjoys woodworking, fishing, and exploring the outdoors. Hamid modeled the Flower Street entrance doors, cut, carved, painted, and finished the doors. He also created a stage on which he and the rest of the team installed the artwork for the Nowruz Festival 2026.
Artist: Alipasha Sadri
Contribution: Persian Columns
Alipasha is an Iranian Civil Engineer working on developing a simulation software. His hobbies include singing in a Persian/Farsi choir, woodworking, tinkering, and occasional 3D printing projects. Alipasha purchased the original column model and modified it to the specifications of the artwork project, complying with the object’s “Royalty Free License”.
Artist: Ramin Barzegar
Contributions: Photography, Graphic Design, and Digital Rendering, Co-Directing
Ramin Barzegar is an internationally renowned visual artist and architectural photographer, adorned with over 80 international photography awards. In 2025, he was selected among the 100 recipients of the El Greco Award by ICM Gestora Cultural in Barcelona, Spain. His work explores the relationship between space, light, and human experience. Ramin’s recent book, Eternal Frames, captures a wide array of his architectural photos across five continents. Ramin B. joined the artwork installation team and assisted Ramin N. and Toki in directing the artwork scene. Then, he photographed and videographed the artwork and processed the materials digitally for online and print publication.
Artist: Toki Gholami
Contributions: Artwork Concept, Grapes, Entryway, Co-Directing
Toki G. is a bilingual librarian with a strong passion for community-centered programming. She co-chairs the library’s annual Nowruz Festival. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, gardening, crafting, and playing tennis. Toki co-developed the festival's conceptual theme and artwork. She created the clay grapes and co-directed the artwork scene. Toki assisted Ramin N. in creating the masonry entryway and joined the team to install the artwork.
Artist: Ramin Naderi
Contributions: Artwork Concept, Rhyton, Entryway, Co-Directing
Ramin N. is a librarian, scholar in training, and community builder. He co-chairs the library’s annual Nowruz Festival. He enjoys writing poetry, pottery, woodworking, designing and building simple structures, and cooking Koobidah kabob from scratch! all while enthusiastically reading audiobooks. Ramin co-developed the festival's conceptual theme and sketched the artwork. He modeled, created, and painted the clay rhyton, wine jar, and cups, built the arched entryway with Toki’s assistance, and co-directed the installation of the artwork.
