Alireza grew up and lived in the city of Rasht in north Iran until he went to University of Shahid Chamran, then earned his Master’s Degree in Tehran and a PhD in Persian Language and Literature at the University of Tarbiyat Modarres. Alireza started teaching in high schools and then started working at university level in the Persian Department of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences where he could do both research and teaching. His main area of research is in the Shahnameh (Iranian epic). He also worked on a project in Tehran about nativism in Persian contemporary literature. He moved to the UK in 2008 and he is currently teaching Persian at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, and also at Rustam Iranian School and Sa’di Foundation in London where he works with younger students. In addition to teaching, he is a writer who has published over 20 articles on the Shahnameh and contemporary Persian fiction in various Iranian academic journals, and he has recently written a book with a collection of his own short stories that he hopes will be published one day.
We are pleased to have someone with Alireza’s expertise available to work with our Persian language students.