Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Turkey, regions of Central Asia and South Asia where the Persian language has historically been either the native or official language. For example, Rumi, one of the best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh or Wakhsh, wrote in Persian and lived in Konya, at that time the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia. The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, the wider Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians or Iranians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, and Indic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures.
The Blind Owl is Sadegh Hedayat's magnum opus and a major literary work of 20th century Iran. Written in Persian, it is narrated by an unnamed pen case painter, who addresses his murderous confessions to a shadow on his wall that resembles an owl. His confessions do not follow a linear progression of events and often repeat and layer themselves thematically, thus lending to the open-ended nature of interpretation of the story.
Amir Hushang Ebtehaj, also known by his pen name H. E. Sayeh, was an Iranian poet of the 20th century, whose life and work spans many of Iran's political, cultural and literary upheavals.
Houshang Golshiri was an Iranian fiction writer, critic and editor. He was one of the first Iranian writers to use modern literary techniques, and is recognized as one of the most influential writers of Persian prose of the 20th century.
Abbas Maroufi was an Iranian novelist and journalist. His most famous novel is Symphony of the Dead.
Ahmad E'ta, better known by his pen name Ahmad Mahmoud ; was a prominent Iranian novelist from Ahvaz city in the southwest of Iran.
Shahrnush Parsipur is an Iranian-born writer and translator.
Karim Emami was an Iranian translator, editor, lexicographer, and literary critic.
Ata Nahai is an Iranian novelist and short story writer who writes in Sorani Kurdish.
Pegāh Ahmadi is an Iranian poet, scholar, literary critic and translator of poetry.
Bahman Sholevar is an Iranian-American novelist, poet, translator, critic, psychiatrist and political activist. He began writing and translating at age 13. At ages 18 and 19 he translated William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land into Persian, and these still are renowned as two classics of translation in modern Persian literature. In 1967, after his first novel The Night's Journey was banned in Iran, he immigrated to the United States and in 1981 he became a dual citizen of the United States and Iran. Although most of his writings in the past 42 years have been in English, published outside Iran; although The Night's Journey has never been allowed republication, though sold in thousands of unlicensed copies; and although the Persian version of his last novel, Dead Reckoning, has never been given a "publication permit" in Iran, at their latest re-appraisals some Iranian critics have named him "the most influential Persian writer of the past four decades," "one who has had the most influence on the writers of the younger generations."
Mohammad Tolouei (Persian: محمد طلوعی; born 1979 as Seid-Mohammad Tolouei-Barazandeh, is an Iranian writer, screenwriter, and playwright.
Najaf Daryabandari was an Iranian writer and translator of works from English into Persian.
The Hooshang Golshiri Literary Award is an Iranian literary award notable for being one of the few literary awards in Iran that is run by a non-governmental organization. Established in 2000, the award is sponsored by the non-profit Golshiri Foundation. The award focuses on modern contemporary Iranian literature. It is named in honor of Hooshang Golshiri, one of the most distinguished pioneers of Iranian modern fiction, who died in 2000. The first award was given in 2001.
One Woman's War: Da (Mother) is a memoir by Seyyedeh Zahra Hosseini detailing her experiences during the Iran–Iraq War as recorded by Seyedeh Azam Hosseini.
Hossein Atashparvar was born in Disfan, Gonabad, Khorasan Province, on 11 November 1952. He is an Iranian writer and a literary critic. He belongs to the Third Generation of Iranian writers. He is the fiction editor of the international literary magazine Neweshta.
Abdolmohammad Ayati was an Iranian author, translator and researcher in the field of philosophy, history and Persian and Arabic literature. He was born on 5 May 1926 in Borujerd, Borujerd County, Lorestan Province, Iran and died on 11 September 2013 in Tehran, Iran. He was selected at the second Iran's Book of the Year Awards for Arabic to Persian translation of the book History of Arabic Language Literature.
She'r-e Nimaa'i is a school of Modernist poetry in Iran that is derived from the literary theory of Nima Yooshij, a contemporary Iranian poet. Nima Yoshij revolutionized the stagnant atmosphere of Iranian poetry with the influential poem Afsaneh, which was the manifesto of She'r-e Nimaa'i. He consciously challenged all the foundations and structures of ancient Persian poetry. The nature of Mazandaran, social criticism, and humor are just a few examples of the themes that Nima Yoshij used in his poems. She'r-e Nimaa'i was the source of inspiration and growth of many great modern Iranian poets, including Sohrab Sepehri, Forough Farrokhzad, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales and Fereydoun Moshiri.
Zahra Kia(Khanlari) (born January, 1912 Solar, Tehran - June, 1989, Tehran) was a researcher, author and translator. She translated Persian language and literature.
