Kader Abdolah Explained

Pseudonym:	Kader Abdolah
Birth Name:	Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami Farahani
Birth Place:	Arak, Markazi Province, Iran
Citizenship:	Netherlands Iran
Education:	physics
Alma Mater:	University of Teheran

Hossein Sadjadi Ghaemmaghami Farahani (Persian: حسین سجادی قائم‌مقامی فراهانی), better known by his pen name Kader Abdolah (Persian: قادر عبدالله|links=no) (Arak, 12 November 1954), is an Iranian-Dutch writer, poet and columnist. His books, written in Dutch, often contain Persian literary themes. He regularly appears on Dutch television as well.^[1]

Life

Kader Abdolah is one of the descendants of Mirza Abu'l-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam, the Iranian politician during the Qajar period who was also affiliated with art and literature.

Kader Abdolah had long wished to become an author. He used his political passion to begin his career after the Islamic revolution in 1979 by writing articles in the leftist political newspapers.^[2]

In the 1980s, he wrote two novels which were published illegally because of the political constraints: What are the Kurds saying? and Kurdistan after the resistance party.

When he immigrated to the Netherlands, he felt as if political issues were no longer relevant to his life and he fell into a state of depression because he had thought of political activities as the essence of his life. Learning Dutch and to write in the language is therefore described by him as a political tool for fighting. Literature had turned into the incentive for a new fight.^[3]

Career

Kader Abdolah studied physics in Arak College of Science (today's Arak University [although the Dutch and French articles say a different school]) in Arak, Iran, and graduated in 1977. After graduation he served his mandatory military service in the Iranian Navy in Bandar Pahlavi (today's Bandar-e-Anzali). During the revolution, he joined the left-wing movement opposing the Shah—and later the Khomeini—regimes. He fled to the Netherlands as a political refugee in 1988. In 2006, he was writer in residence at Leiden University. Today [when?] he lives in Delft, writing under a pseudonym composed of the names of two executed friends.

Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque) catapulted Abdolah onto the Dutch bestseller lists. In 2007 it was voted second best Dutch novel ever in the Netherlands in an online survey organized by NRC Handelsblad and NPS.^[4] The English translation was released worldwide in January 2010.^[5]

Works/Publications

• 1993 – De adelaars
• 1995 – De meisjes en de partizanen
• 1997 – De reis van de lege flessen
• 1998 – Is dit mijn recht, mijn lief?
• 1998 – Buitenspiegels: verhalen over Nederland
• 1998 – Mirza
• 1998 – Short Shorties
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . El viaje de las botellas vacias . Galaxia Gutenberg/Circulo de Lectores . 1999.
• 1999 – Les jeunes filles et les partisans
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Kader Abdolah

. My Father's Notebook: A Novel of Iran . Kader Abdolah . 2000 . 978-0-060-59872-3 . 336 .

• 2001 – De koffer
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . Il viaggio delle bottiglie vuote . Iperborea . 2001.
• 2001 – Een tuin in zee
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . Scrittura cuneiforme . Iperborea .
• 2001 – Andere ogen: Een frisse blik op
• 2002 – Kélilé en Demné
• 2002 – Sophia's droë vrugte
• 2003 – Portretten en een oude droom
• 2003 – Karavaan
• 2005 - Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque)^[6]
• 2006 – II viaggio delle botiglie vuote
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . El reflejo de las palabras . SALAMANDRA . 2006.
• 2007 – Voetstappen
• 2008 – De boodschapper: een vertelling / de Koran: een vertaling. A two volume set: De boodschapper: een vertelling ('The Messenger: a narration') about the life of the prophet Mohammed, and de Koran: een vertaling ('The Qur'an: a translation'), Abdolah's Dutch translation of the Qur'an
• 2008 – Das Haus an der Moschee
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . DZAMIJSKA KUCA . Dereta – Beograd . 2009.
• 2010 – Mohammad, der Prophet
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . Ritratti e un vecchio sogno (Narrativa) . Iperborea . 2010.
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . Calila e Dimna (Narrativa) . Iperborea . 2011.
• 2011 – De koning
• 2011 – De kraai
• 2012 – IL re
• 2012 – How Europe is changing
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Il corvo . Iperborea . 2013.
• 2014 – Papegaai vloog over de IJssel
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Kader Abdolah

. The King: A Novel . Kader Abdolah . 2014 . Librairie Klincksieck . 401 .

• 2016 – Messenger, The: A Tale Retold
• 2016 – Salam Europa!
• Book: Abdolah, Kader . Un pappagallo volò sull'IJssel (Narrativa) . Iperborea . 2016.
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . A parrot flew over the Ijssel . Iperborea . 2016.
• 2016 – Qur'an the
• 2018 – Het pad van de gele slippers
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Uno scià alla corte d'Europa . Iperborea . 2018.
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Le Messager . Editions Gallimard . 2018.
• 2020 – The House of the Mosque
• Book: Kader, Abdolah . Il faraone d'Olanda (Narrativa) . Iperborea . 2022.

Honours and awards

• Best selling debut of 1993 for his book De adelaars(Eagles).^[7]
• Dutch Media Prize, 1997 for his book Mirza
• E. du Perronprijs of 2000 for his novel Spijkerschrift.^[8]
• Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Dutch: Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw) in 2000.^[9]
• Knight in the French Order of Arts and Literature (French: Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) in 2008.^{[9] [10]}
• Honorary doctor at the University of Groningen in 2009.^[11]
• Invitation to write the 2011 , a gift (De Kraai) to buyers of Dutch books during the Boekenweek.^[12]

References

• Weisman . Sarah Conrad . 2006 . My Father's Notebook . Library Journal . 131 . 1 . 1 . 0363-0277 .
• Dynarowicz . Ewa . 2022 . Handicap als narratieve prothese in het werk van Kader Abdolah . Nederlandse Letterkunde . 27 . 2 . 214–238 . 10.5117/NEDLET2022.2.004.DYNA . 252062638 . 2023-02-01.

External links

• Kader Abdolah at UC Berkeley: Literature as Resistance: Role of Clandestine Literature in Dictatorships like Iran
• Kader Abdolah's brief background at World Editions.org
• Contributor: Kader Abdolah at Words Without Borders
• Web site: Kader Abdolah – Biography . Nederlands Literair Productie- en Vertalingenfonds (Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, NLPVF) . 6 February 2009 . 2011-03-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927012644/http://www.nlpvf.nl/basic/auteur1.php?Author_ID=2 . 27 September 2011 . dead .
• Web site: Abdolah, Kader . G.J. van Bork . 2004 . Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (Digital Library for Dutch Literature, DBNL) . 2011-03-19. nl.
• Web site: Kader Abdolah . Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (Digital Library for Dutch Literature, DBNL) . 2011-03-19. nl.
• Books by Kader Abdolah and Complete Book Reviews at Publishers Weekly
• Kader Abdolah IMDb

Further reading

• . READINGS AND TALKS: KADER ABDOLAH . New Yorker . New York, United States . 0028-792X . 1979-02-05 .
• Shirazi . Said . 2006-02-20 . Losing Persian, Finding Iran: PW Talks with Kader Abdolah . Publishers Weekly . 0000-0019 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Freedom Can Be a Nightmare: An Interview with Kader Abdolah . Words Without Borders.
2. Dynarowicz . Ewa . 2018 . A Migrant Writer's Manifesto: Kader Abdolah as a Public Intellectual . Dutch Crossing . 42 . 1 . 77–95 . 10.1080/03096564.2017.1363023 . 149034013 . 2023-06-14.
3. News: قادر عبدالله؛ قصه ایرانی به زبان هلندی.
4. Web site: 'De ontdekking van de hemel' beste Nederlands boek. trouw.nl. 4 May 2018.
5. Web site: Kader Abdolah . Berlin International Literature Festival.
6. News: The House of the Mosque, By Kader Abdolah trans Susan Massotty . London . The Independent . Arifa . Akbar . 8 January 2010.
7. Web site: Iran: Kader Abdolah: In the kitchen of the writer . UCL .
8. Web site: E. du Perronprijs 2000 . nl . . 2011-03-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120316140756/http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/nieuws-en-agenda/persberichten/2001/01/jury.html . 16 March 2012 .
9. Web site: Kader Abdolah – De koning en de kraai . Nederlandse Grondwet . nl . Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) . 2011-03-18.
10. Web site: Kader Abdolah "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" . French Embassy in The Hague . 2011-03-19.
11. Web site: Universiteit eert Kader Abdolah met eredoctoraat . Luc van Kemenade . October 2008 . nl . . 2011-03-18 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120319153742/http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Stijl/Society/209257/Universiteit-eert-Kader-Abdolah-met-eredoctoraat.htm . 19 March 2012 .
12. Web site: Kader Abdolah schrijft Boekenweekgeschenk 2011 . 13 April 2010 . nl . Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek . 2011-03-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110911000200/http://www.boekenweek.nl/nieuws/nieuws3_kader-abdolah-schrijft-boekenweekgeschenk-2011.html . 11 September 2011 .