Ahmad Shamlou

Ahmad Shamlou, also known by his primary pen name, Alef Bamdad, was born in Tehran, Iran, on December 12, 1925. Raised in a military family, he was an itinerant youth, transferred from one remote town to another, with his schooling left unfinished.

Shamlou is recognized as as one of Iran’s greatest modern poets and multidisciplinary figures with over seventy published books, including English translations of Elegies of the Earth (World Poetry Books, 2025); Born Upon the Dark Spear (Contra Mundum Press, 2015); and The Love Poems of Ahmad Shamlu (Ibex Publishers, 2005). Acclaimed for championing a transition from classical Persian poetry to a style of free verse pioneered by one of his greatest influences, Nima Yooshij, some of Shamlou’s most celebrated works include Abraham in the Fire (Zamaneh Publications, 1973) as well as Ayda: Tree, Dagger, Remembrance (Morvarid Publications, 1965) and Ayda in the Mirror (Nil Publishing, 1964), both of which are dedicated to his third wife and muse Ayda Sarkisian. He also published the seminal Fresh Air (Negah Publishing, 1957), which elevated him to fame.

In addition to his renowned poetic works, Shamlou was an established translator who brought works from French and other languages into Persian, editor of the landmark Hafez-e Shiraz as Narrated by Ahmad Shamlou (Morvarid Publications, 1975), author of several children’s books, a playwright, and an award-winning journalist.

Nominated for a 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature and later invited to the 1988 World Literary Congress, where he delivered several lectures and readings across Europe, Shamlou was also the recipient of the 1999 Stig Dagerman Prize, a 1990 Hellman/ Hammett Grant from Human Rights Watch, and a 1973 Forough Farrokhzad Prize.

Shamlou died in July 2000 near Tehran.