Javad Mojabi (22 Mehr 1318 / 14 October 1939, Qazvin – 14 Shahrivar 1405 / 5 September 2026, Tehran) was an Iranian poet, novelist, short-story writer, satirist, journalist, painter, and critic and researcher of literature and the visual arts. For more than six decades, he worked across poetry, fiction, satire, journalism, criticism, research, and painting.
Life, family, and education
Javad Mojabi was the son of Seyyed Ashraf Mojabi and Azra Javadi. He was born in Qazvin on 22 Mehr 1318 (14 October 1939). He studied judicial law and earned a doctorate in economics at the University of Tehran. He also studied sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts and pursued drawing and painting seriously.
In 1343 (1964), he married Nastin (Asieh Javadi). Their daughter, Poopak Mojabi, was born in 1345 (1966), and their son, Hossein Mojabi, in 1353 (1974). His brother Hossein (1323–1343 / 1944–1964) was a painter.
Professional and cultural work
From 1340 to 1357 (1961–1978), Mojabi worked for the Justice Department and then the Ministry of Culture and Arts. In his own account, he was largely detached from government service because he did not attend the office; in 1358 (1979), he was dismissed from three jobs. The resulting period at home allowed him to devote himself to writing and produce many works.
He began journalism at fifteen with the newspaper Seday-e Qazvin and continued throughout his life. He edited the cultural section of Ettela’at from 1347 to 1358 (1968–1979) and later edited Donya-ye Sokhan. He was also among the editors of Takapou, Gardeshgari, and Jang-e Pishtaz, and contributed to Jahan-e Now, Khusheh, Ferdowsi, and independent newspapers from the 1360s (1980s) onward. He joined the Writers’ Association of Iran in 1347 (1968).
He began painting at the age of five and continued throughout his life. He wrote poetry from the 1330s (1950s) and turned to short stories and novels in the 1350s (1970s). In his later years, he focused more on poetry and humorous notes. He sought a fragile balance between the solitude needed to create and active participation in the cultural life of his contemporaries. His encounter with modern art in 1337 (1958) led to art criticism; his art essays began appearing in 1343 (1964).
At age eighty-two, with more than eighty books to his name, he described himself modestly as a new learner of Iranian culture and said that writing was his sole consolation. His bibliography included more than thirty poetry collections, twelve novels, fifteen short-story collections, dozens of collections of essays and critical studies, and introductions to collections of paintings and other visual works. He credited the culturally minded people of his country with their kindness and support, and emphasized intellectual independence and distance from every power other than the people.
Awards and international visits
His awards included the Forough Prize for journalism (1354 / 1975), the Bijan Jalali Prize for criticism (1382 / 2003), and the Arash Award at Toronto’s Tirgan Festival (2008). At the invitation of festivals and cultural institutions, he travelled repeatedly to read poetry and stories and to give talks, including visits to PEN America in New York and to a memorial congress for Ahmad Shamlou. He also took part in a 21-person cultural delegation to Armenia, an episode he later recounted in an archival text with characteristic humor.
Literary and research works
The Persian titles below are given in transliteration, followed by descriptive English translations for readers. Unless an English edition is specifically identified, these translations are not titles of published English editions.
Poetry
- She‘rhā: Fasli Barāye To — Poems: A Season for You
- Zubini bar Ghalb-e Pā’iz — A Spear Against Autumn’s Heart
- Parvāz dar Meh — Flight in the Fog
- Bar Bām-e Bam — On the Roof of Bam
- Safarhā-ye Mallāh-e Royā — Voyages of the Dreaming Sailor
- Popakāneh — For Poopak
- Sheydā’ihā — Ecstasies
- Dari be Shād-khuyi — A Door to Joy
- She‘r-e Boland-e Ta’ammol — A Long Poem of Reflection
- She‘rhā-ye Man barā-ye Popak — My Poems for Poopak
- Be Nasim-e Sobh-e Fardā — To Tomorrow Morning’s Breeze
- Kalām-e Ghā’eb — The Absent Word
- Khāterāt-e Mārbiyā — Memories of Marbella
- Tarānehā-ye Majusān — Songs of the Magi
- Shāhin-e In Zemestān — Falcon of This Winter
- Dar Gardesh-e Bishehā-ye Tābestān — Through the Summer Groves
- Vatan ru-ye Kāghaz — Homeland on Paper
- She‘r-e Emruz-e Khiābān — The Street Today: Poems
- Āsheghānehā-ye Javad Mojabi — Javad Mojabi’s Love Poems
- Savār-e Ghatār-e Fardā — Riding Tomorrow’s Train
- Ruz-e Jashn-e Kalemāt — The Day of the Words’ Celebration
- She‘r-e Bist-o Shesh — Twenty-Six Poems
- Dar In Otāqhā — In These Rooms
- Sar bar Khat-e Asheghi — Set Upon the Line of Love
- Gozideh-ye Ash‘ār-e Javad Mojabi — Selected Poems of Javad Mojabi
- Hanuz Ey Vatan! — Still, O Homeland!
- Ruznāmeh-ye Mard-e E‘zelat-gazin — Diary of a Man in Seclusion
- Āsemān-e Moztarab — The Troubled Sky
- Kalāgh-e Javān — The Young Crow
- Ruzegār-e Koronāyi-ye Mā — Our COVID-Era Days
- Ofogh-e Enfejār — Horizon of Explosion
Novels
- Shahrbandān — The Besieged
- Shab-e Malakh (Shā‘er dar Meydān-e Jang) — The Locust Night (The Poet on the Battlefield)
- Mumiyā’i — The Mummy
- Bāgh-e Gomshodeh (Ferdows-e Mashreqi) — The Lost Garden (The Eastern Paradise)
- Obur az Bāgh-e Ghermez (Az Ghal‘eh tā Sarhad) — Crossing the Red Garden (From the Citadel to the Border)
- Jim (Obeyd Bāz-mi-gardad) — J: Obeyd Returns
- — Towers of Silence (Violets on the Slope)
- Lotfan Darb Rā Bebandid (Darvāzeh) — Please Close the Door (The Gate)
- Dar In Havā — In This Air
- Dar In Timārestān (Dar Tavileh-ye Doniā) — In This Sanatorium (In the World’s Stable)
- Goftan dar ‘Ein-e Nagoftan — Speaking While Not Saying
- Eyālāt Nist dar Jahān — There Are No States in the World
Short stories and satire
- Man va Ayyub va Ghorub — Job, the Sunset, and I
- Katibeh — The Inscription
- Divsārān — The Demon-Ridden
- Ghesseh-ye Roshan — A Bright Tale
- Az Del be Kāghaz — From Heart to Paper
- Yāddāsht-hā-ye Ādam-e Pormodde‘ā — Notes of a Self-Important Man
- Āghā-ye Zuzanagheh — Mr. Trapezoid
- Yāddāsht-hā-ye Bedun-e Tārikh — Undated Notes
- Shabnegārehā — Night Sketches
- Revāyat-e ‘Or — The Naked Narrative
- Junam Vāset Begu — Tell Me, My Dear
- Baghal Kardan-e Doniyā — Embracing the World
- ‘Ein-e Habb-e Nabāt — Just Like Rock Candy
- Be Ghol-e Mardom Goftani — As People Say
- Shukhi-hā-ye Bi-Marz — Boundless Jokes
- Ruzegār-e Khandeh-āvar — A Laughable Age
- Khandestān-e Khodmāni — Our Own Land of Laughter
Children’s books
- Pesarak-e Cheshm-Ābi — The Blue-Eyed Boy
- Sibu va Sār Koochooloo — Sibu and Little Sar
- Panir-e Bālā-ye Derakht — Cheese Above the Tree
- Khāneh-am Daryāst — My Home Is the Sea
- Narges dar Āyeneh — Narcissus in the Mirror
- Kāshki — If Only
Criticism, reference works, and research
- Āyeneh-ye Bamdad — The Mirror of Bamdad
- Shenākht-nāmeh-ye Shāmlou — A Companion to Shamlou
- Sokhan dar Halgheh-ye Zanjir — A Word in the Chain’s Circle
- Shenākht-nāmeh-ye Sā‘edi — A Companion to Saedi
- Negāh-e Kāshef-e Gostākh — The Bold, Discovering Gaze
- Shekl-e Neveshtanam Hastam — I Am the Shape of My Writing
- Nāmhā beyn-e Sokut va Sedā — Names Between Silence and Sound
- Tab‘id-e Nevisandeh az Neveshtehā — The Writer’s Exile from the Writings
- Sāyeh-dast — Shadow-Hand
- Ardeshir va Shabāhat-hā-ye Nāgozir — Ardeshir and the Inevitable Resemblances
- Pishgāmān-e Naqqāshi-ye Mo‘āser-e Irān, vol. 1 — Pioneers of Contemporary Iranian Painting
- Tārikh-e Tanz-e Adabi-ye Irān, 2 vols. — A History of Literary Satire in Iran
- Navad Sāl Noāvāri dar Honar-e Tajassomi-ye Irān, 2 vols. — Ninety Years of Innovation in Iranian Visual Art
- Devist Naqqāsh va Tandisgar — Two Hundred Painters and Sculptors
- Sarāmadān-e Honar-e Now — Pioneers of Modern Art
- Farangi-sāzi dar Honar-e Irān — Westernization in Iranian Art
- Felezkāri dar Irān — Metalwork in Iran
- Tanāngi va Tavahhom — Embodiment and Illusion
- Ruzegār-e Honarmand-e Mā — The Age of Our Artist
- Ardeshir-nāmeh — The Book of Ardeshir (an extended introduction to the works of Ardeshir Mohassess, published in the United States)
- Analytical introductions to collections by contemporary Iranian artists, including Hojjatollah Shakiba, Ghasem Hajizadeh, Parvaneh Etemadi, Parviz Tanavoli, Mohammadreza Atashzad, Ahmad Vosough Ahmadi, Jazeh Tabatabaei, Iran Darroudi, Behzad Shishegaran, Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Ali Akbar Safaian, Ali Reza Espahbod, Aminollah Rezaei, Kambiz Derambakhsh, Mohsen Ahmadvand, Nureddin Zarrinkelk, Sadegh Barirani, Misha Shahbazian, and Amir Mohammad Ghasemizadeh.
- Goft-o-gu-ye Ali Shorouqi bā Javad Mojabi dar Sery-e Tārikh-e Shafāhi — Ali Shorouqi’s oral-history interview with Javad Mojabi
- Kenār-e Ghayb Istāde-am — I Stand Beside the Unseen
- Khāterāt-e Nasl-e Ākhar — Memoirs of the Last Generation (three volumes; a continuation of oral history)
- Ey Ghom-e Hajj Rafteh — O People Who Have Gone on Pilgrimage
Visual art, cinema, and audio works
Films and documentaries
Films and documentaries related to Mojabi include The Blue-Eyed Boy (directed by Hassan Lotfi, about Mojabi’s life and works); The Shape of Writing (directed by Jamshid Barzegar); Conversation with Mojabi (made by Ebrahim Nabavi for the Center for Dialogue Among Civilizations); short films by Abdollah Nazemi and Dr. Najel Rahim; and the many-hour Arté Box conversations about his life, works, and the history of modern Iranian painting. He also appeared in films about Ardeshir Mohassess (directed by Bahman Maghsoudlou) and in interviews about Ahmad Shamlou, Gholamhossein Saedi, Behjat Sadr, Ghazaleh Alizadeh, Hossein Mojabi, Abbas Kiarostami, Akhavan, Jazeh Tabatabaei, Mohammadreza Shajarian, Mohammad Ehsai, and other contemporary artists. A puppet adaptation of The Blue-Eyed Boy was also staged.
Screenplays and plays
- Mehmān-kosh — The Host-Killer
- Jenāyat-e Penhān — The Hidden Crime
- Shabah-e Sodom — The Ghost of Sodom
- Ruzegār-e ‘Aql-e Sorkh — The Age of Red Reason
- Tābut-sāzān — The Coffin Makers
- Divānegān bar Sāhel — Madmen on the Shore
- Sātegin — Sategin
Painting, exhibitions, and audio
Mojabi made more than thirty oil and watercolor paintings and hundreds of serious drawings and caricatures, many of which had not been exhibited. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, Gallery Nashr-e Sales held an exhibition of portraits of him by contemporary artists.
Six children’s books were recorded for the Beethoven audio project: The Blue-Eyed Boy, Sibu and Little Sar, Cheese Above the Tree, If Only, Narcissus in the Mirror, and My Home Is the Sea. Recordings also included the poems On the Roof of Bam and Through the Summer Groves, and satirical works including Qesseh-ye Jad-e Bozorgvār, Gushi Dastet Bāsheh (part of Just Like Rock Candy), and The Naked Narrative. He read many poems, stories, parts of novels, and humorous notes on Instagram and other digital platforms, with the assistance of Poopak Mojabi and the production work of Morteza Bamani. A selection of poems and an audio selection from Embracing the World were given to composer Peyman Soltani for a planned musical adaptation. Bijan Mofid and his colleagues released a record and cassette of The Blue-Eyed Boy in the mid-1350s (late 1970s). In the 1360s (1980s), Mojabi’s long poem On the Roof of Bam was recorded several times with and without music; the recordings were circulated without his permission.
Life and career at a glance
- 1318 / 1939: Born in Qazvin.
- 1337 / 1958: Encountered modern art, beginning a lifelong engagement with visual-art criticism.
- 1343 / 1964: Married Asieh Javadi (Nastin).
- 1347 / 1968: Began editing the cultural section of Ettela’at and joined the Writers’ Association of Iran.
- 1354 / 1975: Received the Forough Prize for journalism.
- 1359 / 1980: Left newspaper work and turned to professional literary creation.
- 1382 / 2003: Received the Bijan Jalali Prize for criticism.
- 2008: Received the Arash Award at the Tirgan Festival in Toronto.
- 1405 / 2026: Died in Tehran on 14 Shahrivar (5 September).
- 18 Shahrivar 1405 / 9 September 2026: Farewell ceremony at Tehran’s Writers’ Quarter and burial at Imamzadeh Taher in Karaj.
For the illness timeline, farewell ceremony, photographs, tributes, and international coverage, read In Memory of Javad Mojabi.