Reza Baraheni
Reza Baraheni (13 December 1935 – 25 March 2022) was an Iranian novelist, poet, critic, and political activist. Baraheni was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1935. After studying there and in Turkey, he obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Istanbul, and in 1963 was appointed Professor of English at Teheran University.
Reza Baraheni

Romissa Mofidi · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Reza Baraheni
- Born
- 13 December 1935
- Birthplace
- Tabriz, Iran
- Died
- 25 March 2022
- Place of death
- Toronto, Canada
- Occupation
- Novelist, poet and critic
- Nationality
- Pahlavi Iran and Iran.
- Education
- International Writing Program.
- Languages
- Persian, Azerbaijani and English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Reza Baraheni (13 December 1935 – 25 March 2022) was an Iranian novelist, poet, critic, and political activist. Baraheni was born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1935. After studying there and in Turkey, he obtained a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Istanbul, and in 1963 was appointed Professor of English at Teheran University.
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Note VALÉORINE
Reza Baraheni (1935–2022) was a literary critic, novelist and poet, among other activities, a national of Iran and Pahlavi Iran. The literary critic was born in Tabriz and died in Toronto. Reza Baraheni was educated at International Writing Program. Languages used include Azerbaijani, English and Persian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
wikidata · Q3098537 · wikipedia · Reza Baraheni
In this article
Biography
Biography
Baraheni lived in Toronto, Canada, where he taught at the Center for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. He was the author of more than fifty books of poetry, fiction and literary theory and criticism in Persian and English. His works have been translated into a dozen languages. Moreover, he translated into Persian works by Shakespeare, Kundera, Mandelstam, Andrić, and Fanon. Winner of the Scholars-at-Risk-Program Award of the University of Toronto and Massey College, Baraheni taught at the University of Tehran, Iran, the University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and York University. He was also a Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford University, Britain, Fellow of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and Fellow of Winters College, York University. He was president of PEN Canada. He died on 24 March 2022 in Toronto, Canada, and was buried on 9 April 2022 at Elgin Mills Cemetery, Canada.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Reza Baraheni • Born — 13 December 1935 • Birthplace — Tabriz, Iran • Died — 25 March 2022 • Place of death — Toronto, Canada • Occupation — Novelist, poet and critic
English
English
• God's Shadow: Prison Poems (Indiana University Press, Bloomington - 1976) • The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran (Random House, Vintage, New York - 1977, introduction by E. L. Doctorow) • Accosting the Butterflies: Selected Persian and English Poetry ‘Khatab be Parvaneh ha’ (Butterfly Art House - 2024)
Anthologies
Anthologies
• Approaching Literature in the 21st Century - ed. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl (Bedford/St. Martin’s, Boston - 2005) • God’s Spies - ed. Alberto Manguel (Macfarlane, Walter & Ross, Toronto - 1999) • The Prison Where I Live, ed. Siobhan Dowd, Foreword by Joseph Brodsky (Cassell, London - 1996)
Novels
Novels
Written in Persian: • Les Saisons en Enfer du Jeune Ayyaz (Pauvert - Paris, 2000) • Shéhérazade et Son Romancier (2ème éd.) (Fayard - Paris, 2002) • Elias à New-York (Fayard - Paris, 2004) • Les Mystères de Mon Pays - vol. 1 (Fayard - Paris, 2009) • Les Mystères de Mon Pays - vol. 2 (Fayard - Paris, to be published 2012)
Poems
Poems
• Aux papillons (excerpts) (Revue Diasporiques n°11 - Paris, 2010)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1935
Reza Baraheni was born on 13 December 1935.
2022
Reza Baraheni died on 25 March 2022.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Tabriz.
Birth place
Toronto.
Death place
Short stories and other texts
• Lilith (Fayard - Paris, 2007) • Une Femme (remue.net - Paris, 2007) • Le Poète Comme Prisonnier (remue.net - Paris, 2007) • L'aveuglement Exilique (remue.net - Paris, 2007)
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- <i>The Crowned Cannibals: Writings on Repression in Iran.</i> By Reza Baraheni. With an introduction by E. L. Doctorow New York: Random House/Vintage Books, 1977. 279 pp. $3.95, Iranian Studies, 1977
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1977
- Reza Baraheni. Les saisons en enfer du jeune Ayyaz. Trad. Katayoun Shahpar Rad, Paris, Pauvert, 2000, 429 p, Abstracta Iranica, 2002
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2002
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3098537: Reza Baraheni
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Reza Baraheni”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.رضا براهنی، شاعر و نویسنده برجسته ایرانی، درگذشت. رادیو فردا. 25 March 2022.
- 2.The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-State at Bay? by Crawford Young, 1993, p. 126.
- 3.Baraheni, Reza. The Shah's executioner. Index on Censorship. 5. 13–20. 1976. 10.1080/03064227608532493.
- 4.Baraheni, Reza. The Shah's executioner. Index on Censorship. 5. 13–20. 1976. 10.1080/03064227608532493.
- 5.Reza Baraheni's Obituary. PEN International.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Reza Baraheni. Les saisons en enfer du jeune Ayyaz. Trad. Katayoun Shahpar Rad, Paris, Pauvert, 2000, 429 p, Abstracta Iranica, 2002Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Reza Baraheni is recorded with the occupation literary critic. Recorded as writer, poet, novelist and literary critic.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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