Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar
Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967 Tehran, Iran |
| Alma mater | University of Tehran |
| Occupation(s) | Author, screenwriter |
| Known for | Screenplay for No One Knows About Persian Cats; novels including Scorpion on the Steps of Andimeshk Train Station |
Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar (; born 1967) is a prominent Iranian author and screenwriter.
Life
Abkenar was born in Tehran and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in performing arts from the University of Tehran. His experiences serving near the border during the Iran-Iraq war have significantly shaped the tone and setting of his literary works.
He collaborated on the screenplay for No One Knows About Persian Cats, a film directed by Bahman Ghobadi, which earned the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Despite his achievements, Abkenar's writings are prohibited from being published or sold within Iran.
Awards
His first novel, Scorpion on the Steps of Andimeshk Train Station, or Blood's Dripping From This Train, received multiple honors including the 2007 Hooshang Golshiri Literary Award for "Best First Novel," as well as the Mehregan Award recognizing it as the best novel of that year, and the Vaav Award for its distinctive narrative style.
In September 2014, Abkenar was granted a fellowship by the Black Mountain Institute at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he took part in an intensive nine-month residency focused on writing.
Books
- The Concert of Forbidden Tars
- The French Perfume
- Scorpion on the Steps of Andimeshk Train Station, or Blood's Dripping From This Train
- Darkness, published in 2020