Ali Abdolrezaei

Ali Abdolrezaei (علی عبدالرضایی ) was born 10 April 1969 in Northern Iran (Langrood) where he finished high school and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Khaje Nasir University, Tehran.[1]

Abdolrezaei began his poetic career in 1986.[2] Eventually, he was banned from teaching and public speaking.[2] In 1997, with the start of the new presidency and the decrease of censorship, Abdolrezaei’s new book, “Paris in Renault”, was published in Iran.[1][3] It received massive attention and the majority of the critics, newspapers and important literary circles wrote and talked about its new view on language and especially on postmodernism.[2][4][5] This made Abdolrezaei more famous and his open-minded ideas became influential for the Persian audience, which caused him a more severe surveillance from the government.[2][4][5] He was invited to hold lectures about poetry in many places, but he only accepted those held in the universities, that’s why he was called “University’s Poet”.[2][4][5] Getting in touch with these large audiences was considered dangerous by the government, so they soon forbade him from public speaking and started to censor his books more than before.[4][6]

After studying anarchism for several years, starting in the year 2000, Abdolrezaei published essays about it on the internet, bringing a broader view on the phenomenon for his Persian readers and speaking about it at underground events.[7][8][9] He created a new concept, “Iranarchism” - which focused on many issues of the Middle East societies, according to the anarchist approach.[7][8][9] He published the manifest of Iranarchism, in seven parts, first as a text, on the Iranian website Akhbare-rooz, in 2013,[7] and then on YouTube as an audio presentation.[8] In early 2016 he published his book "آنارشیست ها واقعی ترند" [Anarchists are More Realistic], a selection of more than 400 pages from his writings on this topic.[10][11]

Abdolrezaei is one of 34 international poets selected by the British Library, and his recordings and their texts are kept in the Sound Archives of the British Library.[1] His poems have been translated into languages including English, German, France, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Croatian and Urdu.[2][12] He was the Chair of Exiled Writers Ink in the United Kingdom in 2014-2016.[1]

Abdolrezaei's reputation as a poet spread in the early 1990s and received wide critical discussion from poets and critics of Persian poetry.[13] His poetry tackles difficult themes with a mastery of craft.[14] According to Poetry International, his "postmodern" poems "center on the problematic nature of language, knowledge and subjectivity."[15]

He helped to found the "Persian New Poetry" movement, writing colloquially about current themes rather than the traditional themes of emotion and nature.[15] He is also one of the few poets who succeeded in expressing his unique poetic individuality.[1] His varied books of poetry endorse his poetic creativity and power.[1] Nearly all well-known poets and critics of Persian poetry have written about Abdolrezaei's work.[1]

Abdolrezaei has been a prolific and controversial poet.[15] He has been described as "one of Iran's most influential poets"[16] and "one of the most serious and contentious poets of the new generation of Persian poetry[2] He has had an undeniable effect on many poets of different generations of Persian poetry through his poetry, speeches and interviews.[1]

It has been said that his poetry caused a group of young poets to turn away from the legacy of Modern Persian Poetry to establish the Persian New Poetry order.[17] Abdolrezaei’s poetry shows that the contemporary art of Iran has been hugely influenced by the traumatic historic events of the last three decades and that these events have affected millions of Iranians in one way or another.[14] He represents the aesthetics and voice of a new, multi-faceted generation of Iranians and their cultural chasm with the past in the face of a repressive political regime.[14]

His twelve volumes of poetry were published in Iran, the remainder in exile.[15] After 13 years of exile and a publishing ban in Iran, in 2013 the government allowed his publisher to release four of his new books.[1] These were so well received that they were reprinted several times in three months.[1] However, after seven months, his books were confiscated from the Tehran Book Fair, and he is banned from further publication.[1]

During his career, Abdolrezaei has done a lot of interviews, some of which you can read in this section. In the interview “I still write because I’m sorry” on the first link, he points out important points about his poetry and explains his poetic theory.

I still write because I’m sorry, AN INTERVIEW WITH ALI ABDOLREZAEI, Poetry International Web

Interview with "The Ofi Press Magazine", Interview carried out by email by Jack Little, UK/Mexico.

The Poet of Creativity In Exile, Ali Abdolrezaei speaks to Paloma Concierta from where he now lives and writes, in exile, London.

Ali Abdolrezaei and Abol Froushan interview, Interviewer: Cathy Aitchison, It was recorded at the Platforma Festival in December 2011 in London.

Exile isn’t always freedom, World Press Freedom Day special, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 2010

There are many articles about Abdolrezaei’s poetry, some of which are listed below. These are examples of articles that address key issues in his poetry:

Fragments: Part 1, Part 2, Poetrymag, Abol Foroushan, 2009

The Risk of Poetry, Poetry International Web, 2010

Speaking in the voice of a generation, ALI ABDOLREZAEI’S POETRY, Poetry International Web, 2009

Ali Abdolrezaei has attended in numerous poetry festivals and symposia during his career.

The first international Kosovo poetry festival in 2015. This festival is held annually.[18]

Acts of memory festival. This festival took place in Counterpoint, at London in 2011. The festival was about human rights.[19]

Human rights poetry festival. This festival took place at London in 2016.[20]

The writer’s conference was held in Nottingham in 2015 and the most important poets and writers in the UK and Europe were attended. He has lectured and read poetry about censorship in the festival.[21]

Mission statement festival was held in Dallas, USA in 2015.[22]

Platforma festival was held at London in 2011.[23]

The Danger of Words in the Age of Danger at London in 2017. Famous English thinkers were invited to this symposium and Abdolrezaei has lectured about censorship, its philosophy and the post-censorship.[24]

Sens public festival at Paris in 2011. In this festival Abdolrezaei read his poems translated into French.[25]

Poetes a Paris. This festival was held at Paris in 2012. Abdolrezaei’s translator has attended in this festival and read his poems.[26]

During his career, he has received a lot of awards, honors and criticism for his poems. In 2013 the book “Mothurt” was selected as the “book of the year” of Iran.[27] More than ninety individuals of best Iranian critics and poets participated in this survey.[27] One year later, “Lover mover” was selected as the second best book of the year in the same survey.[27]

• Iran Almanac: Ali Abdolrezaei
• Poetrymag: "Long Live War", translated by Mansor Pooyan