BIOGRAPHY OF MEHDI AZAR YAZDI

From the perspective of the leader:
Leader appreciated his works and said: for small children, our hands were empty, until I found his book. I saw it from multiple directions, it was the same thing that I was looking for.
Birth: 1922 Death: 9 July 2009
He was born in 1301 in KHORAMSHAH village near YAZD city in a new Muslim family. His ancestors were Zoroastrian.
From the age of 8, started to work along with his father in a farmhouse. He was pulled from building work to hosiery shop. When shop owner decided to establish second bookstore in YAZD city, sent him to new place. Working in bookstore brought him close to poets and writers in the area. And later moved to Tehran and got a job in printing job located in NASER KHOSROW area.
In the year 1956, at the age of 35 in the printing house a book by ANVAR SOHEYLI attracted him. He thought to write simple stories for children. This idea was behind the creation of the first volume of “Good stories for Good children” book.
He never married. And never engaged in the government job. In addition to story writing, he continued to do proofreading until final days of his life. Before his death, he said he had unfinished works but due to the lack of permit issued by the ministry of culture, lost the motivation to complete them.

HIS FATHER:

HAJ ALI AKBAR RASHID was engaged in agricultural work.
He was religious fanatic. He was a poet too. His poems were about innocent Imams.

MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD:

He says: The first time I experienced regret was when I saw my cousin who had some books that I wanted. He was illiterate and I was educated. I told my father about those books but he said, leave it. Those books are not religious. That night I went to basement and cried a lot.
Later when I got a job in a bookstore, I began to read the books. I felt paradise. To obtain more knowledge, the only way forward was reading more articles.

Education:

His father was less educated, so did not allow his son to go to government school. Mehdi learnt reading and writing at home from parents. And grandma thought him Quran.

ACTIVITIES:

He started to write his first book at the age of 35. When book was published, media and book lovers praised it. So publisher asked him to write the second volume. Little by little, volumes reached to eight. Many encouraged him to continue. But he said: I did not get the chance to write.

PRIZES AND AWARDS:

AZAR YAZDI received an award from UNESCO in 1966. Two years later, his two valuable books were selected as children`s book by UNESCO.

SOME OF HIS BOOKS:

Good stories for good children
Tales of KELILE and DEMNE
MARZBAN stories
SANDBAD stories
QABUS stories
MASNAVI stories
QURAN stories
Fourteen innocent stories
New stories from old books
Good and evil
Right and wrong
Ten stories
Children of Adam
Five myths
Cowardly man
Tales and proverbs
Eight heavens
Wise weaver, main subject and other twelve stories
YAZDI culture
Cooking order and housekeeping
Smile
Smarty cat
Aunt GOHAR, druid
Good child story
Honey poem
Forty HADITH
Lazy cat
Simple stories
GOD BLESS HIM