Ali Ashraf Darvishian

Who is Ali Ashraf Darvishian?

Ali-Ashraf Darvishian is an Iranian story writer and scholar. After finishing teacher-training college, he taught at the poverty-stricken villages of Gilan-e-Gharb and Shah Abad. This atmosphere is featured in most of his stories. Later, he moved to Tehran and continued his studies in Persian literature.

As of 2006, Ali Ashraf Darvishian was in Australia as a guest of the Iranian Centre for Democracy and presented a number of lectures on a broad range of social and cultural issues.

Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian-French author, mentions Darvishian in her graphic novel Persepolis. She considers him her favorite childhood author, recalls going to his clandestine book-signing, and describes him as "a kind of local Charles Dickens".