Mohammad Hanif (born 1961) is an Iranian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and scholar. He is the winner of many national awards including the prestigious

Iran's Book of the Year Awards Iran's Book of the Year Awards is an annual award about books in categories of religion, social sciences, language, applied sciences, art and literature. It is the most prestigious book award in Iran and is granted by the Iranian president during ...

, Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards, ''

Golden Pen Award The Golden PEN Award is a literary award established in 1993 by English PEN given annually to a British writer for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". The winner is chosen by the Board of English PEN. The award has previously been ...

''.

Life

A few years after the 1979 Revolution, he started his career as a country

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. However, soon he was fired from his job due to unfounded political charges. Then he entered

Kharazmi University Kharazmi University (Abbreviation: KHU) (, ''Daneshgah-e Xuarazmi''), formerly Tehran University of Teacher Training (), is a public research university in Iran, KHU named after Khwarizmi (c. 780–850), Persian mathematician, astronomer and g ...

to study history, but literature, as well as creative writing, remained a priority for him. His specialty in history encouraged him to write extensively on Persian folklore and also made him one of the few Iranian novelists using

magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

in his novels: an approach particularly evident in his later works, e.g., ''The Magical Hat and Copper Statue'' (novel), ''That Man Smelled Death Since Then'' (novel), ''With Hard Labor'' (novel) and ''Localization of Magical Realism in Iran'' (research). He is now mainly focused on fiction.

Fiction

* ''With Hard Labor'' (2019) * ''Gupta's Magic'' (2018) * ''That Man Smelled Death Since Then'' (2017) * ''The Magical Hat and Copper Statue'' (2012) * ''The Cage: Life in a Prison Camp'' (2009) * ''The Dreams of Deer'' (2008) * ''Icy Flowers'' (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanif, Mohammad Living people Iranian novelists Iranian male novelists Iran's Book of the Year Awards recipients Kharazmi University alumni Postmodern writers Magic realism writers 1961 births

Life

Fiction

See also

References