Houshang Moradi Kermani: Iran ⋆ Author

For the past four decades, Houshang Moradi Kermani has dedicated his life to creating meaningful and influential literature for children and young people in Iran. Born in the village of Sirch in 1944, Kermani was raised by his grandparents after losing his mother as an infant. With his grandmother a traditional doctor and his grandfather a village elder and storyteller, Kermani was immersed in storytelling and written narrative from an early age. His uncle, a teacher, ensured he was surrounded by classic Iranian literature throughout his childhood and adolescence, which functioned for Kermani as an antidote to the oppressive education system in rural Iran. After secondary school, Kermani attended the Dramatic Arts College in Tehran, and later received his BA in English Language, after which he launched his literary career.

Kermani's passion for dramatic arts and literature gained him access into literary circles, and by the 1970s he had created nationally-adored fictional characters and had begun writing stories about child carpet weavers in Iran. His first book on the subject, published in 1980, Bachehaye Qalibafkhaneh [The Children of the Carpet Weaving Factory], caught the attention of the Children's Book Council, along with IBBY. His deeply humanistic style attracts young readers from many generations—as he has been publishing children's texts for over forty years—and while Iran has faced many political struggles that have created divisions among generations, Kermani's work is able to bridge these gaps and transcend political and cultural boundaries. His works shed light on issues of poverty, nature, cultural traditions, and marginalized groups, as he embeds his young reader in the depths of human experience.

Just as Kermani transcends political and ideological boundaries through his focus on human nature, so too does he transcend geographic and cultural boundaries. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Russian, and these translated works include his autobiography, Shoma ke garibeh nistid [All Between Us/Believe It or Not]. Since 1981, Kermani has earned a number of literary awards, including many Children's Book Council of Iran's Best Book of the Year Awards, Switzerland's Blue Cobra Award in 1994, and the Ministry and Culture and Guidance's National Book Prize in 2006.