Abdollahi, Ali

Ali Abdollahi © Rolf Zoellner

Ali Abdollahi, born in 1968 in Birdschand, Northeast Iran, studied German language and literature in Tehran. He is a poet, literary critic and translator of poetry, narrative prose and philosophy from German (including Brecht, Kafka, Nietzsche, Rilke) and has published numerous volumes of poetry. In German, his poems have appeared in journals, anthologies, and on the website Lyrikline.org, for which he is also responsible for the Persian edition. In 2021 his poetry collection Wetterumschlag was published by Secession Verlag, as well as the anthology Kontinentaldrift. Das persische Europa (Wunderhorn), edited by him and Daniela Danz, which introduces 35 Persian poets living in Europe. Together with Kurt Scharf, he has published an extensive anthology of contemporary Persian-language poetry at Sujet Verlag. Ali Abdollahi is a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association and currently lives in Berlin.

Festival Content

PERSIAN POETRY IN EUROPEAN EXILE: As much of the fatherland as I’ve got in my suitcase

READING, TALK AND MUSIC – Developments in Iran over the past few decades have forced countless writers into exile, often with little more than their own language in tow. “As much of the fatherland as I have in my suitcase” is a poem about exile by the poet Esmail Kho’i, who passed away in London in 2021.

Abiz, Alireza • Ekhtesari, Fatemeh • Falaki, Mahmood • Schaffa, Mudzgan • Rafani, Roshanak • Aras, Maryam • Abdollahi, Ali • Samawatie, Cymin