Jaafar Modarres-Sadeghi

Jaafar Modarres-Sadeghi (born May 19 1954) is an Iranian novelist and editor.

Modarres-Sadeghi was born in Isfahan and moved to Tehran in 1972. While he was studying in the College of Literature and Foreign Languages in Tehran, he began to work as a journalist in a few dailies and literary magazines, writing reports, reviews and weekly columns. His first short story appeared in a literary monthly, "Roudaki", in 1973. His first collection of stories, "Children Don’t Play Anymore", was published in 1977. His first novel, "A Play", was published in 1980. The publication of this first novel coincided with the outbreak of Iran-Iraq war and was neglected by audience and critics.

Modarres-Sadeghi's second novel, "Gavkhooni (The River’s End"), published in 1983, was acclaimed as an avant-garde literary masterpiece a few years after its publication. It was translated into English in 1996, and was awarded a prize as one of the best novels of post-revolution era in 1998. A movie based on the novel, directed by Behrooz Afkhami, and produced by Ali Moallem, was made in 2003. It was shown in the Cannes International Film Festival, May 2004, in ”Directors Fortnight” section, and later in the 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival and a few other international film festivals in Asia.

Modarres-Sadeghi has published five collections of short stories and twelve novels. His latest novel, "Homeland", was published in 2005.

Novels

*1980 "A Play"
*1983 "Gavkhooni"
*1989 "Safare Kasra (Kasra's Journey)"
*1989 "Balone Mahta (Mahta's Balloon)"
*1990 "Nakoja-Abad (Nowhere-ville)"
*1991 "Kalleye Asb (The Horse's Head)"
*1993 "Sharike Jorm (The Accomplice)"
*1997 "Arze Hal (A Petition)"
*1999 "Shah-Kelid (The Master Key)"
*2001 "Man Ta Sobh Bidaram (I’m Staying Up till Dawn)"
*2005 "Homeland"

References

* [http://www.caroun.com/Literature/Iran/ContemporaryWriters/JaafarModarresSadeghi/JaafarModarresSadeghi.html Biographical sketch at Caroun.com]
* [http://www.gavkhooni.com/ The official site of "Gavkhooni (The River’s End") film]