| Peyman Esmaeili | |
| Birth Place: | Tehran, Tehran, Iran |
| Occupation: | Author |
| Nationality: | Iranian-Australian |
| Subjects: | --> |
| Notablework: | --> |
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Peyman Esmaeili (Persian: {{Nastaliq|پیمان اسماعیلی : 1977) is an Iranian writer, critic and journalist who has written one novel and three collections of short stories, spanning Iranian modern fictions.He is well known for winning a prestigious literary award in Iran and is identified as one of the leading writers of modern Persian prose.[1]
Peyman Esmaeili was born to a middle class Kurdish family raised in Kermanshah, a city that to date has not quite recovered from the Iran-Iraq war. His works are heavily influenced by endless airstrikes and casualties, and Kernashahsh's harsh winters have shaped his memories of the formative years of his life.
At the age of eighteen, Peyman moved to Tehran to study electrical engineering, a discipline that led him to jobs in the oil and gas industry, his full-time on-site work and tasks, did not stop him from pursuing his passion for literature. He started writing book reviews and short essays for different literacy magazines in his early twenties. The most significant part of his resume as a freelance journalist is the series of interviews he conducted with famous Western writers such as Kurt Vonnegut, Joyce Carol Oates, Stanisław Herman Lem,[2] Jhumpa Lahiri, Paul Auster, and Michael Cunningham.[3]
Peyman’s debut short story collection, Search Your Raincoat Pockets (2005), brought him national critical acclaim. His second collection. Snow and the Cloud Symphony (2008), won six awards, including the Golshiry, Mehregan and Press Critics’ Awards. His novel, The Guardian was published in 2014 and was another success. Peyman has started on this novel when he moved to Australia, a life-changing experience that greatly influenced his writing, and especially his recent work, let's go back tonight (2017), a collection of five stories that can be described as the author’s contemplations on migration.
Three elements in his fiction distinguish his work from that of other writers of his generation: first, the rural and sometimes wild settings that take the reader away from the social and inner struggles of Tehran’s middle class. Second, the powerful presence of nature that simultaneously evokes awe and apprehension in the reader and dominates the characters’ will and highlights their pettiness; and, third the recurrence of extreme situations that blur the line between the characters’ humanity and their animalistic nature. The characters, all ordinary people, are tested against their moral values as raw fear and survival instinct break them down.
Snow and the Cloud Symphony a collection of seven stories published by Cheshmeh, was praised with many awards and critical acclaim:
Let's go back tonight, Peyman's latest collection has established his reputation as a writer who successfully adopted the influence of migration, this collection has won Ahmad Mahmoud Award in 2017.[9]