Butterflies Die in Russia

Esmaiel Yourdshahian, who writes under the pen name Pendar Urmiaei, is an Iranian poet, novelist, researcher and occasional painter. He was born in Urmia, Iran. Although his official birth date is recorded as March 25, his mother maintained that he was born on February 17, on a cold winter morning.

Raised among music, poetry and storytelling, Yourdshahian was introduced to Iranian and European literature and music by his mother, whom he considers his first teacher. The songs, legends and oral traditions of the local communities of Azerbaijan also had a lasting influence on his literary imagination.

He began writing poetry and fiction in adolescence, composing his first poem at fourteen. During his university years in Tehran, he met the distinguished scholar Parviz Natel Khanlari, who later introduced him to the renowned poet Nader Naderpour. Both played an important role in his literary development.

Yourdshahian studied culture and civilisation as well as social psychology, and has spent much of his life teaching and conducting research in Urmia. Migration, memory, identity and displacement are recurring themes in his work. His novel Autumn, or Hunting Gazelles at Dusk, inspired by the dispersal of his family, was first published in 1998 and republished in 2016.

Throughout his career, he has published twelve poetry collections, ten novels, four children’s books, seven works of research and philosophy, and forty-seven scholarly and literary articles. Writing in Persian, he views literature as a way of crossing geographical, ethnic and national boundaries and creating a deeper connection among people throughout the world.