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
Erfan Mojib
was born in the desert city of Yazd in central Iran. He holds a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Malaya (Malaysia) and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He has published... Read more
was born in the desert city of Yazd in central Iran. He holds a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Malaya (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 and 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 translations have appeared in numerous journals, including Poem-a-Day (Academy of American Poets), World Literature Today, Asymptote Journal, Jacket2, Y’alla, Rattle, QWERTY, and Konch. His translation of Hafiz, Hafiz’s Little Book of Life (co-translated with Gary Gach), was published by Hampton Roads in September 2023. A painter since the COVID-19 pandemic, he held his first solo exhibition at Homa Gallery in October 2025. He is the recipient of the Tehran School of Art Short Story Award and the David Walker Prize for Creative Writing. For more information, visit ErfanMojib.com.
You can find Erfan on Instagram (@erfan.mojib), X/Twitter (@JoseArcadioXVI), and Facebook.
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... Read more
Gary GachGary 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. Read less
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