Fereydoun Tankaboni, Iranian Writer, Passes Away at 87 in Germany

Fereydoun Tankaboni, an exiled writer and satirist, passed away on Saturday, October 29, at the age of 87 in Cologne, Germany. Mr. Tankaboni was a founding member of the Iranian Writers' Association but was expelled from this professional body in 1979 due to his support for the Tudeh Party, along with four other members. These writers subsequently established the 'Council of Writers and Artists.' Tankaboni left Iran in 1983, amid the crackdown on members and supporters of the Tudeh Party. Born in 1937, he became a teacher of Persian language and literature after completing his studies. He published his first story titled 'A Man in a Cage' in the early 1960s. Following that, during his collaboration with various publications, he gravitated more towards political satire. According to some critics, the most significant feature of Tankaboni's satire was his mockery of rulers, which led to his arrest and imprisonment following the publication of 'Notes from a Busy City' in 1969. Other notable works by Tankaboni include 'The Captive of Soil,' 'Walking on the Rails,' 'Money, the Only Value and Measure of Values,' 'The Sorrow of Being Sterile,' and 'The Wrong Islamic Republic.' Hassan Mirabedini noted in his book 'A Hundred Years of Storytelling in Iran' that Tankaboni, like Gholamhossein Saedi, began his career by writing about the poverty of the people, but infused his writings with such social depth that he explicitly reported contemporary issues in some of his stories. Tankaboni was among the writers who continued to write about Iran after his exile. He also continued his journalistic activities abroad, publishing his writings in various publications or as books.