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Samad Behrangi

Samad Behrangi was born in the Cherendab district of Tabriz, Azerbaijan province. He received his early education in Tabriz and graduated in 1957. That same year, he began teaching at schools in the Azar Shahr district, about 50 kilometers southwest of Tabriz, for eleven years.

Samad was fascinated by Azerbaijani folk tales, and his first book, published in 1965, was a collection of several of these tales that he had translated into Persian. This work attracted the attention of literary circles in Tehran. The subsequent publication of an essay on educational problems, several original children’s stories that deal realistically with social issues, and a second volume of Azerbaijani folk tales consolidated their reputation among the new generation of writers.

Sadeq Hedayat

Sadeq Hedayat, Iranian writer, novelist and translator, was born in Tehran into an aristocratic family and is one of the fathers of modern Persian literature. Sadeq attended Dar-ol Funun’s school, and around 1916 he was diagnosed with an eye infection, interrupting his education for almost a year. In 1925 he completed his secondary education at a prestigious French school in Tehran, where he also taught Persian to a French priest and became familiar with the French language, world literature (mainly French), and metaphysics. Shortly after Reza Shah Pahlaví came to power in 1926, Sadeq, along with other Iranian students, was sent to Europe to study. This was the beginning of his direct exposure to different cities, towns, and cultures. He stayed for a time in Belgium and then moved to France, where he tried to commit suicide in a river in 1928, but was saved. He abandoned his architecture studies and devoted himself to writing. In 1930, Hedayat returned to Tehran and began working at Bank Mellí, which was then the central bank of Iran. During his stay in India, he studied the Pahlavi language and translated Ardeshir Babakan’s biography from Pahlavi into Persian. In 1932, he traveled to Isfahan and published his Isfahan travel journal, Nesf-e-Jahan (Isfahan, half the world), as well as the important collection of short stories Se Qatreh Khun (Three drops of blood).

Sadeq Chubak

He was born in August 1916 in Bushehr. His father was a well-known bazaar merchant. He received his early education at Bushehr and later at Shiraz. He then moved to Tehran and attended the Alborz institute. After finishing high school, he was hired as a teacher by the Ministry of Education and sent to Khorramshahr, in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan, after which he joined the national oil company.

Considered the greatest naturalistic writer in Persian literature, Chubak has written a large number of works, including novels, short stories, and plays. His collections of short stories “Kheymeh Shab Bazi” (Puppet Show), 1945, and “Antari Ke Lutiyash Murdeh Bud” (The Monkey Whose Master Was Dead), 1949, had a profound influence on modern Persian literature. There was a gap of several years before he returned with a major novel, “Tangsir,” in 1963, and two years later, “Rouze Avval-e Qabr” (The First Day at the Grave) was published. Chubak describes a very brutal world in which people are mortified in the extreme and cannot bear the sight of others in “Sang-e Sabur” (Shoulder to Cry on), which is one of the best modern novels in literature. Persian. In general, their idioms and popular proverbs move the story forward and are considered a natural element of dialogue. He translated into Persian some works by internationally renowned writers, such as Balzac and Shakespeare. Sadeq Chubak died in July 1998, in Berkeley, United States.

Leyla Hatami

Born on October 1, 1972, she is an Iranian actress and daughter of director Ali Hatamí and actress Zari Khoshkam.

After finishing high school, she moved to Lausanne and began her studies in electrical engineering at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne. After two years, she decided to change her specialty to French literature. She completed her studies before returning to Iran. After a short break, busy with her studies in Switzerland, she returned professionally to the cinema with the film “Leyla” by Dariush Mehrjui. His performance in this film was very well received by both critics and audiences.

Kamal-Ol-Molk

Mohammad Ghaffari, nicknamed Kamal ol-Molk (1884 – 1919), was a famous Iranian painter, born in Kashan into a family of artists and painters. Mohammad, a very intelligent and sensitive boy, with a generous heart, grew up in a village in the middle of the countryside, his eyes and his heart were full of love for nature. It is said that he took a piece of coal from the oven and made drawings on the walls, in his father’s books, on horse saddles and, sometimes, away from his parents’ eyes, on the whitewashed wall of his room.

Jafar Panahi

Born on July 11, 1960 in Mianeh, Iran, he is an Iranian film director, screenwriter and editor. After several years directing short films and working as an assistant director to his compatriot Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi obtained international recognition with his first feature film in 1995. “The White Balloon” (Badkonak Sefid). The film won the Camera d’Or, the first major award for an Iranian film, at the Cannes Film Festival the same year.

At age twenty, Panahi was drafted into the Iranian military and served in the Iran-Iraq war. He worked as an army cinematographer from 1980 to 1982. In 1981, he was captured by Kurdish rebels fighting Iranian troops and spent 76 days in captivity. Based on his war experiences, he made a documentary about the war that was broadcast on television. After completing his military service, Panahi enrolled in the Tehran Higher School of Film and Television.

Houshang Golshiri

Writer, critic and editor of fiction, he was born in Esfahan in 1937 and grew up in Abadan, southern Iran. From 1955 to 1974, Golshiri lived in Isfahan, where he graduated in Persian language and literature from the University of Isfahan. He then taught in primary and secondary schools in the surrounding cities.

Golshiri began writing novels in the late 1950s. His publication of short stories in “Payam-e Novin” and elsewhere in the early 1960s, the founding of “Jong-e Isfahan” (1965 – 1973 ), the leading literary magazine of the time published outside of Tehran, and its involvement in efforts to reduce censorship of imaginative literature gave it a reputation in literary circles. Golshiri’s first collection of short stories was “Mesl-e hamisheh” (As always) (1968). Then came the book that made him famous, his first novel “Prince Ehtejab” (1968/1969). The latter is a story of aristocratic decadence, which implies the inadequacy of the monarchy in Iran. Shortly after the production of the popular film based on the novel, the Pahlavi authorities arrested Golshiri and imprisoned him for almost six months.

Bozorg Alavi

Born in 1904 in Tehran, he has become, over the years, an important figure in Persian literature and on the Iranian political circuit. Alavi is considered one of the most famous Iranian writers on the left. His father, Abolhasan, was a revolutionary who participated in the constitutional revolution of the early 20th century. His grandfather was a deputy. In 1923, Mojtaba and his brother Morteza were sent to Germany to continue their studies. Upon graduation, Bozorg returned to Iran in the early 1930s and began teaching in Shiraz.

During his stay in Germany, he became acquainted with European literature and poetry. He began to translate famous books into Persian. During this period he met Sadeq Hedayat. The two men had a lot in common, and it is very difficult to say who had the most influence over the other. Their socialist ideas led them to publish political articles and magazines. It was then that the ’53 band was born, led by Dr. Arani. Bozorg was arrested in 1937 for violating the 1933 anti-communist law. He and 52 other people remained in prison until the Allied occupation of Iran in the fall of 1941. All were arrested, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison. Shortly before entering prison, he published his series “Chamedan” (The Suitcase). In his sentence, Bozorg did not stop writing. Later, Alavi wrote two books about his stay in prison: “Panjah-o seh Nafar” (53 people) and a collection of short stories titled “Varaq pareh ha-ye Zendan” (Junk documents from the prison).

Fariba Vafi

Fariba Vafi was born on January 21, 1963, in Tabriz, northwestern Iran. She started writing stories at an early age and focused on literary writing as his main focus. In 1986, she published her first book, “Dar omq-e-sahneh” (At the bottom of the stage), and since then she has published other short stories and seven novels. Her works have been translated into many languages ​​and have won international awards. Fariba, of Azerbaijani origin, feels that her linguistic talent is sometimes stuck between Persian and Turkish (Azerbaijani), as she has two different characters in each of these two languages. Although, after so many years, she has finally been able to reconcile these two languages. Fariba has written many works during these years, including the collection of in-depth stories, “Even when we laugh”, “On the way to the village”, “Like a bird in the shadows” and other novels.

Bahram Beyzai

He is a director, producer, screenwriter and editor who was born in Tehran, Iran, on December 26, 1938. He entered the art world at an early age. In high school, he wrote two historical comedies that became his preferred method of writing. He then entered the University of Tehran, but did not finish his studies due to a lack of interest in the subject he was studying. It was then that he began researching Iranian theater and epic literature. At age 21, he did extensive research on the “Book of Kings” (Shahnameh) and the Ta’azie. He also studied pre-Islamic history and became familiar with Persian painting.

The next ten years of his life were spent writing for various publications on oriental art and Iranian theater. He also wrote several articles on cinema, which became the subject of one of his books. It was during this period that Beyzai wrote some of his masterpieces: “The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad”, “Banquet”, “Serpent King”, “Dolls”, “History of the Hidden Moon” and many others …

In 1968, he was one of the first to join the Iran Writers Association (Kanun-e Nevisandegan-e Iran). He began his film career with a successful short film titled “Uncle Mustache” (Amu Sibilú) in 1970. Shortly after, he directed and produced his masterpiece “Ragbaar” with the late Parviz Fannizadeh in the title role. Since then, he has produced and directed another eight films and has contributed significantly to the development of cinema and theater in Iran. Despite his popularity and knowledge, Beyzai never won government support, before or after the Islamic revolution. After almost 20 years, two of his films, “The Death of Yazdgerd” and “The Ballad of Tara”, have not yet received the screening permission. Both films have been suspended because they do not conform to the Islamic code currently used in the Iranian film industry. “Bashu the Little Stranger” would have been his third archived film. But he finally got a screening permit after the end of the Iran-Iraq war. The film tells the story of a boy who lost his home and family in the war.