Mohammad Hussain Mohammadi

Mohammad Hussain Mohammadi was born in 1980 in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. He and his parents emigrated to Iran when he was seven. He received a Master degree as a production director at the Department of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

Mohammad Hussain Mohammadi began writing short stories and reviews in 1997. Two years later he published his first collection of short fiction, »Parvanaha va chadarhaye Safed« (1999; tr: The Butterflies and the White Scarves). His second collection, »Anjirhaye sorkhe Mazar« (2004; tr: The Red Figs of Mazar), won both the Iranian Hushang Golshiris Literary Award for the best short story collection and the Isfahan Literary Award. In 2009, Mohammadi won the Afghanistan Peace Prize for his book. Mohammadi’s stories are largely set in Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. They depict a society in which war has become a part of everyday life: a father finds a dead solider in a field and wants to hide the terrible discovery from his family; a young boy loses a leg to a mine and must begin begging for a living. Mohammadi’s stories are written in precise, unpretentious prose, strikingly reflecting the constant presence of open and covert violence. In 2007, »Az yad raftan« (Engl: »Oblivion«, 2008) was published, a collection of short fiction which, a year later, won the Award of Critics of the Iranian Press.

Mohammadi is also an author of books for children and an editor. In 2006, he published his »Afghanistan Story Writing Encyclopedia«, a compendium of Afghan writers who have written one novel or more than ten short stories. In 2008, he was elected Manager of the House of Afghan Literature in Tehran by writers and poets, from which he edits the magazine »Rawayat« (tr: Tale), that focuses on prose writing in Afghanistan and Iran, as well the cultural exchange between the two countries.

In 2009, he published »Too Hich Gap Nazan« (tr: You Say Nothing), a collection of short fiction about culture and tradition in Afghanistan before and after the rule of the Taliban. Soon to be published are a collection of short fiction by Afghan writers edited by Mohammadi, »Emzaha« (tr: Signatures) and his novel »Nashad« (tr: Sad). His works have been translated into French and Italian. Mohammad Hussain Mohammadi recenty return to Afghanistan and lives in Kabul.

Parvanaha va chadarhaye

Cultural Center of Afghan Writers

Qom, 1999

Anjirhaye sorkhe Mazar

Cheshmeh

Teheran, 2004

Afghanistan Story Writing Encyclopedia

Shahab Publications

Teheran, 2006

Az yad raftan

Cheshmeh

Teheran, 2007

Too Hich Gap Nazan

Cheshmeh

Teheran, 2009