Houshang Golshiri

Houshang Golshiri (Persian: هوشنگ گلشیری; March 16, 1938[1] – June 5, 2000) was an Iranian fiction writer, critic and editor.

His publication of short stories in Payam-e Novin and elsewhere in the early 1960s, his establishment of Jong-e Isfahan (1965/73),[4] the chief literary journal of the day published outside of Tehran, and his participation in efforts to reduce official censorship of imaginative literature brought him a reputation in literary circles[citation needed].

Shortly after production of the popular feature film based on the novel, Pahlavi authorities arrested Golshiri and incarcerated him for nearly six months.

In 1990, under a pseudonym, Golshiri published a novella in translation called King of the Benighted, an indictment of Iranian monarchy, engage Persian literature, the Tudeh Party, and the Islamic Republic.

In 1999, Golshiri was awarded the Erich-Maria Remarque Peace Prize for his struggle to promote democracy and human rights in Iran.