Hafez, Iran’s Revered Poet, trans. Erfan Mojib & Gary Gach

15 July, 2024 • Erfan Mojib, Gary Gach

The Tomb of Hafez and its associated memorial hall, the Hāfezieh, are two memorial structures erected in the northern edge of Shiraz, Iran, in memory of the celebrated Persian poet Hafez and is one of the most popular attractions of Shiraz.

Hafez (حافظ) is a celebrated 14th century Persian lyric poet (1325–1390). He grew up in the city of Shiraz. Very little is known about his life, but it is thought that he may have memorized the Qur’an after hearing his father recite passages. He wrote numerous ghazals expressing love, spirituality, and protest and many of his poems are used as proverbs or sayings. Hafez’s tomb is in Musalla Gardens in Shiraz.

 

Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach

 

 

Bouquet of Hafez-e Shirazi

Translations by Erfan Mojib & Gary Gach
Inspired by Adaptations by Abbas Kiarostami

Bouquet of Hafez-e Shirazi trans Erfan Mojib, Gary Gach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hafiz's Little Book of Life
Hafiz’s Little Book of Life

Bouquet of Hafez-e Shirazi 2

Erfan Mojib

Erfan Mojib is a literary translator based in Tehran, Iran. He holds a degree in Comparative Literature from UM Malaysia and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He has published several translated works of fiction including Reza Ghassemi’s The Spell Chanted by Lambs, Simon Van Booy’s Love Begins in Winter & The Illusion of Separateness, Gene Bell-Villada’s García Márquez: The Man and His Work, Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot, and Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion. His short stories and translated pieces have appeared in numerous journals including the Academy of American Poets’ Poem A Day, World Literature Today, Asymptote Journal, Jacket2, Y’alla, Rattle, QWERTY, and Konch. His translation of Hafez entitled Hafiz’s Little Book of Life (co-translated with Gary Gach) was published by Hampton Roads in September 2023. He is the recipient of the Tehran School of Art Short Story Award and the David Walker Prize for Creative Writing.

Gary Gach

Gary Gach is an adjunct professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He’s published ten books, most recently Pause … Breathe … Smile, and has been published in a dozen anthologies and +150 periodicals. including Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, American Poetry Review, The Atlantic, Brick, City Lights Review, Code of Signals, Counterpunch, Coyote’s Journal, Essential Voices: Poetry of Iran and Its Diaspora, Evergreen Review (Iran Issue), Exiled in the Word, Hambone, Kyoto Journal, Language for a New Century, Manoa, The Nation, The New Yorker, Or, Technicians of the Sacred, Two Lines, Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, and Zyzzyva. He’s recipient of an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, a Northern California Book Award for Translation, and a grant from The Lannan Foundation. He teaches qi gong and swims in the San Francisco Bay.

HafezIranlovePersian poetry

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