Kioumars Saberi Foumani

Saberi was born during the Second World War in Sowme'eh Sara (Persian: صومعه سرا), a city in Gilan Province.

His mother, who was the daughter of a respected cleric and one of the few educated women in the city, taught the Quran after the death of her husband.

His brother, who was 14 years older, had to leave school at the age of 15 to work to help with the family expenses.

At the age of 16, he gained entry to Sari's Agriculture teacher's college (Persian: دانشسراي كشاورزي ساري) that only accepted one student from Fuman each year.

He spent most of the 1970s reading and teaching and in 1978 he obtained his master's degree in comparative literature from the University of Tehran.

His son died in a car accident in 1985 but this sad incident did not stop him from reaching his goal, which was to make people smile.

During his first year at university, Saberi was arrested for participating in student demonstrations and started to write political satire in Towfigh magazine.

Saberi composed his first poem of the ghazal form when he was 14 and he named it "Orphan" (Persian: یتیم).