Azar Yazdi finds comfort only in books
تهران تایمز :آذر يزدی تنها در كتاب تسلي يابد.
Tehran Times Culture Desk
yazdfarda:TEHRAN -- Octogenarian Iranian writer of children’s books Medhi Azar Yazdi still considers reading to be the only pleasure of his life.
“When I begin reading a book, I am transported out of this world like one intoxicated,” Azar Yazdi, 86, told the Iranian Students News Agency on Thursday.
“This is the only happiness I know,” he added.
Azar Yazdi is author of “Good Stories for Good Children”, which won a UNESCO prize in 1966 and was selected as Iran’s best book of the year in 1967.
Some time ago, he left his place of birth Yazd, in central Iran, to live with his adopted son in the town of Karaj, 35 kilometers west of Tehran.
In 1949, he first encountered the little boy who was destined to become his adopted son. The child had been referred for employment to a photography house in Yazd where Azar Yazdi used to work.
Yazdi was leaving the store when he came upon the eight-year-old boy weeping after having been rejected by the owner of the business. He adopted him at the advice of one of his friends.
Yazdi went on to tell of recent events, “I was alone and I could not fend for myself, so I escaped (!) from Yazd and took shelter here, where I have been warmly welcomed. However, when I first arrived, I was not well, so I was transferred to a hospital,” he explained.
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He was released from hospital last week.
Azar Yazdi began writing for children in 1956. He has written seven books, each of which is an adaptation of a Persian literary classic, rewritten for children in an easy-to-understand style.
Published in eight volumes, “Good Stories for Good Children” provides children with access to the great works of Persian literature such as the Gulistan (The Rose Garden), the Masnavi-ye Manavi, the Marzban-Nameh, the Sinbadnameh, and some stories from the Holy Quran and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (S) and his Household (AS).
Yazdi has also written “Adam”, which was chosen as Iran’s book of the year in 1968.
He believes that life owes him something, saying, “I have frequently been only at service. I have always economized and had a hard time.
“I never eat well, unless at parties or here. I am never well dressed. Some people consider me to be stingy because of my economical ways. When I have no income I have to economize. Thank God, that I have never been evil and have never had a bad reputation.”
Nowadays, he reads books on cuisine, pharmacology and psychology. He has read “From Garlic to Onion”, a cookery book authored by Najaf Daryabandari and his wife Fahimeh Rastkar. He believes that it is much better than Rosa Montazami’s book, which until now has been the most famous cookery book in Iran.
Azar Yazdi has never married. Once, he was asked the reason for this and he joked, “I could not live with a crazy woman, and if she was a wise woman, she could never live with me!”
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