Posted on August 22, 2014 in Authors
Date of Birth: 1940
Place of Birth: Kerman, Iran
Ahmadreza Ahmadi, a well-known poet and writer for children, was born in Kerman in south-eastern Iran in 1940. When he was seven years old, his family left Kerman to settle in Tehran. Ahmadi completed his high-school education at the celebrated Dar al-Funun Institute.
His first collection of poems was published in 1962, which immediately attracted the attention of both poets and critics. Characteristic of his poetry is the particular linguistic effect he creates in melding poetic and prose structures. His poems have been translated into many different languages such as Arabic, Armenian, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Korean.
He joined The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, referred to simply as the KANOON in Tehran and was active in it from 1970 to 1979 as the director of audio productions, doing pioneering work in producing superior quality multimedia versions of classical and modern Persian poetry, classical, modern, and folk music, and children’s stories.
Ahmadi published his first work for children entitled, I Have Something to Say That Only Children Can Believe, through Kanoon in 1969. As soon as the book appeared, it was strongly attacked by censors, its distribution prohibited, and tragically most of the copies destroyed by the government. Ahmadi, who strongly opposed the despotic and totalitarian rule of the monarchy, continued to write for children despite having no chance of seeing his works published.
His works started to be published again from 1985 and continue to be published to date. He is recognized as the pioneer of surrealism in children’s literature in Iran and has received awards and recognition for several of his works in Iran. In 2009 Ahmadi was awarded The Flying Pen, a prestigious national recognition for his contribution to children’s literature.
Ahmadreza Ahmadi has been nominated for two prestigious awards … the shortlist for the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Prize , and also for The 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.