Prominent Kurdish writer dies in Iran at 76

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Prominent Kurdish novelist, translator, and researcher Aliashraf Darvishian passed away at a hospital in Iran on Thursday.

Darvishian’s wife, Shahnaz Darabian, said his death was due to lung failure, Iranian state-run media reported.

Highly distinguished, Darvishian, who described himself as a “cultural fighter,” was a well-known leftist intellectual and a member of Iran’s writers’ union.

Born in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah, northwest of Iran, he spent years teaching in his hometown.

He translated Kurdish literature to Farsi and dedicated years to gathering Kurdish folktales and fables.

His work faced censorship both during the cleric rule of the Islamic Republic as well as the monarchy running Iran four decades ago.

For his cultural and political activities, he spent several years in a prison in Iran under the Shah.

He published 52 books. “Bshooran” (collection of short stories), “Salhay-e-Abri” or Cloudy Years, (a novel), and “Farhang-e-Afsanehay-e Irani” (Iranian Legends and Fairy Tales Encyclopedia) are among his better-known works.

Many of his manuscripts are still under consideration by the Iranian government, yet to be published.

Born in 1941, he studied to be a teacher, became a writer, and was jailed several times—the third time serving six years of an 11-year sentence.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany