Bijan (1941-1997), from Lahijan, Iran, was an experimental poet, fiction writer, and pioneer of postmodernism and surrealism in Iranian literature in the 1990s. He had a late-blooming but very successful literary career, and his collection Cheetahs That Have Run with Me (1994) generated considerable popular and critical acclaim for its fresh use of modern literary techniques in Persian. Najdi regularly presents his stories from the point of view of unusual characters—dolls, horses, a tattoo on a prisoner’s arm—in order to address events of historical and societal importance without arousing the ire of Iran’s strong governmental censors. He refers to this historical background obliquely, but it is critical to understanding how Iranian readers experience his work.
Michelle is currently Visiting Lecturer of Persian at Brown University. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Classical Persian Literature. Her literary translation work has appeared in such publications as Words Without Borders, Asymptote Journal, World Literature Today, Exchanges and others.
Alfred Yaghobzadeh (b. 1958) is an Iranian photographer whose career began in 1979 when the Iranian revolution interrupted his studies and sent him to the streets of the capital to photograph the tumultuous events that led to overthrowing. Distinguished for his choice of subjects that reflect the human cost of violence and conflict around the world, his images depict major world events such as the fighting between the Amal movement and Palestine in Sabra and Shatila camp Beirut in 1985, the civil war in Lebanon and Gaza, the Chechen battle of Grozny, and the Egyptian revolution in 2011. He has has received various prizes, including World Press Photo, The American Overseas Press Club, the NPPA Best of Photojournalism, and the Art and Worship World Prize (AWWP). His photographs have also been featured on the covers and pages of numerous international publications.
