Mohammad Asef Soltanzadeh (

Dari Persian Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

: محمد آصف سلطان‌زاده) was born in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in 1964 and moved to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Then in 1985, he moved to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and then in 2002, he moved to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He is a writer specialising in prose and drama. He writes primarily in

. "Discovered by the Iranian writer and critic Hushang Golshiri, he has published his short stories in various literary journals. When his book ''Dar Goriz Gom Mishawim'' (English: We Disappear in Flight) was published in Tehran in 2000, he became famous among experts of literature in the Persian language (one of the literary languages of

). The volume includes 8 stories. In Iran a second volume of his short stories is being published." His two collections of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

, ''We Disappear in Flight'' and ''The Deserter'' won the prestigious Golshiri Award in Iran in 2001. Soltanzadeh's short story ''Dotai pashe'' (A Pair of Clubs) from ''We Disappear in Flight'' has been translated from Dari Persian into Polish by Ivonna Nowicka.

Works

Collections of Short stories

His most recent collections of stories, in Persian, are: * ''We Disappear in Flight'', Tehran: Agah, 2000. * ''Newyear's Day Is Delightful Only in Kabul'' * ''Now Denmark'' * ''The Deserter'' * ''You Who Are Here, This Is Not Your Land''

Novels

* ''Eden's Hell'' (2 binds), Copenhagen: Bita Book, 2009. * ''Book of Exodus'', Copenhagen: Dyiar-e Ketab, 2011. * ''The Cinematographer of Noqrah'', Copenhagen: Bita Book, Dec. 2011. * ''Alas, Mullah Omar'', Copenhagen: Bita Book, 2013. * ''The brazen Bulls'', Copenhagen: Bita Book, 2014. * ''The poisonous land'', Copenhagen: Bita Book, 2017. * ''The shadows of the Dar-ul-Khilafat'', Copenhagen, Bita Book, 2020. * ''The Afghan last supper'', Kabul, Amiri Publication, 2022. * ''The Trial'', Kabul Book Publication, 2023.

Anthologized in

* ''Another Sea, Another Shore: Persian Stories of Migration''. Ed. and trans. Shouleh Vatanabadi and Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami. Northampton, MA: Interlink Books, 2004. * "Sohrab's Wars: Counter Discourses of Contemporary Persian Fiction". Ed. and trans. Mohammad Mehdi Khorrami and Pari Shirazi. Costa Mesa, California, Mazda Publishers, Inc., 2008. * "Herfra min verden går. 23 flersprogede forfattere i Danmark". Copenhagen, Dansk PEN, 2009. * "Writing from Afghanistan". Ed. and trans. Anders Widmark.

Awards

* Golshiri Award, 2001 (Golshiri Foundation, Iran) - "for The Best First Collection of Short Stories, chosen for its impressive and macabre themes achieved through seemingly simple and unadorned language strewn with words and expressions from the author's homeland. Soltanzadeh's book has since been translated into

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

ssef Soltanzadeh, ''Perdus dans la fuite'', Actes sud, Paris, 2002 The Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF) is a gemmology laboratory located in Basel, Switzerland. It is a part of the Schweizerische Stiftung für Edelstein Forschung (SSEF, Swiss Foundation for Gemstone Research). It was founded on an independen ...

and Italian . A. Soltanzade, ''Perduti nella fuga'', AIEP Editore, San Marino, 2002" * Danish Refugee Council Artist Award, 2003. * Golshiri Award, 2007 (Golshiri Foundation, Iran) - for ''The Deserter'', Award for the Best Collection of Short Stories.7th Golshiri Literary Award Ceremony Held In Tehran
in Payvand News. Consulted 5 September 2010. * Nawrooz Award, 2010 (Kabul, Afghanistan) - for "The Deserter", Award for the Best Collection of Afghan Short Stories of the Decade.

References

External links

for further reading:
''Nation, War and Exile as Portrayed in Afghan Diasporic Fiction: The Case of Muhammad Asef Soltanzadeh''
lecture by Dr. Mir Hekmatullah Sadat at the "Afghanistan in Ink: Literatures of Nation, War, and Exile" conference, January 14, 2010. UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. Posted January 2010. Consulted 5 September 2010.
''Afghanistan in Ink: Literatures of Nation, War, and Exile''
by Wali Ahmadi (UC Berkeley), "Afghanistan in Ink: Literatures of Nation, War, and Exile" conference at UCLA, January 14, 2010. UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies. Consulted 5 September 2010. * Review and excerpt from ''Perduti nella fuga'' i

with a brief biography of the author as well (in Italian). ''Sagarana, rivista letteraria trimestrale'', No. 10, January 2003. * Brief biography at th

website (in Ukrainian). * Biography of the author at th
World Wide Words Festival of Denmark
website (in Danish). Archived. {{DEFAULTSORT:Soltanzadeh, Asef Afghan writers Living people 1964 births Afghan expatriates in Pakistan Afghan expatriates in Iran Afghan expatriates in Denmark