Ali Abdolrezaei

Ali Abdolrezaei (born Aprin 10, 1969) is an Iranian-British poet, writer, literary theorist and political analyst with over 70 books.

Ali Abdolrezaei was born on 10 April 1969 into a middle-class farming and merchant family in the northern city of Langerud, Iran.

When he was five, his newborn sister died unexpectedly.

This overwhelming cogitation during her funeral led to a mini stroke resulting in his loss of speech.

After a few months, Abdolrezaei regained speech, but it was newly characterized by a severe stammer.

By age of 16 after undergoing speech therapy he fully overcame the impediment.

After finishing high school in Langerude, Abdolrezaei attended the Khajeh Nasir Toosi University in Tehran, where he studied mechanical engineering.

Abdolrezaei's career as a poet began in 1986.

Not long after, he was banned from teaching and from public speaking in Iran.

Abdolrezaei's poetry became renowned amongst Iranians in the 1990s for its artful handling of difficult subjects.

Abdolrezaei's contributions to the intellectual circles began with the 1991 publication of his first book Only Iron-Men Rust In The Rain.

Between 1992 and 2001, when Postmodernism attracted more enthusiasts among Persian artists, Abdolrezaei, along with few other poets further popularized the movement.

Twelve volumes of Abdolrezaei's poetry were published while he lived in Iran; the remainder have been published in exile.

In 1996 when the Iranian president Khatami eased censorship, Abdolrezaei's new book "Paris in Renault" was published in Iran.

It received much attention for its avant-garde views concerning language and postmodernism.

He received many invitations to lecture on poetry, but only accepted those extended by universities.

He thus became known as the “University Poet.” As his ideas gained more traction in Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) heightened its scrutiny and surveillance of Abdolrezaei.

Censorship of his writings also intensified.

In his books "So Sermon of Society" and "Shinema," Abdolrezaei criticized Khatami and other political reformers.

The Iranian government interdicted his writings after the publication of “Shinema” and banned him from teaching and public speaking.

Abdolrezaei began considering invitations from foreign publishing companies, scholarly societies, and individuals to give lectures and read poetry outside of Iran.

Before leaving Iran in 2001 he was known as one of the most innovative poets of the contemporary Persian literature and poetry. He is also the leader of the Iranarchist party, a movement in Iran fighting against the Islamic Republic.

Abdolrezaei is also known by Mouta, the "wise teacher" in old Persian.

He, therefore, left Iran in 2001, first to France, then to Germany and since 2005 taking up residence in England.

In 2013, years after his self-imposed exile and 13 years after the banning of his works in Iran, the government permitted the release of four of Abdolrezaei's newer books between 2013 and 2014.

His books met with high demand and underwent several rounds of publications.

Seven months after their release, however, government officials confiscated them at the Tehran Book Fair. The ban on Abdolrezaei's work has since resumed.

Poetry International notes that Abdolrezaei's postmodern poems “center on the problematic nature of language, knowledge and subjectivity.”

Abdolrezaei, also called the “Anarchist Poet” is one of 34 international poets whose work was selected by the British Library for its sound archives.

His poems have been translated into many languages including English, German, French, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Croatian and Urdu.

Once established in England, he began holding poetry workshops, and later from 2014 to 2016 he was elected the chairperson of the United Kingdom's Exiled Writers Ink.

In 2014, he founded College-e Sher (College of Poetry) for enthusiasts to learn poetry and writing.

Around 90% of the over 17,000 students who studied there were from inside Iran and 10% from abroad; they were all connected via Telegram.

In December 2017, when a large group of Iranians who were the victims of the IRI's embezzlements went onto the street to protest in over 150 cities, the students of College of Sher joined them.

In light of this uprising, Abdolrezaei's students appealed to him to change the focus of the studies and to campaign against the prevalent corruptions.

Thus the focus of his teachings changed from poetry and writing to concentrate mostly on political activism; and when the college gradually grew into more than 100,000 students it changed from being a school into a political party.

This newly established party was named Iranarchist Party.

Although based on Anarchism doctrine, it also presented its own principles designed to fit the challenges the Iranian people were facing for decades with a totalitarian Islamic regime.

Abdolrezaei's ideas on Anarchism centered on limited government interference, in which the government was to act as the provider of public services to the people.

Ali Abdolrezaei resides in London, England.