Wasef Bakhtari ( fa, استاد واصف باختری) (born 1942 in
Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
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,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
) is an
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
**Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...
poet, literary figure and intellectual.
Life and education
Bakhtari spent most of his childhood in
Mazar-i-Sharif
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. He attended Bakhtar School for his primary and for most of his secondary education. After his family moved to
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
, he finished
Habibia High School
Habibia High School ( fa, لیسه عالی حبیبیه) is a school in southwestern Kabul, Afghanistan which has educated many of the former and current Afghan elite, including President Ashraf Ghani and musician Ahmad Zahir. It was founded by K ...
in 1965. He holds a BA degree in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
literature from
Kabul University
Kabul University (KU; prs, دانشگاه کابل, translit= Dāneshgāh-e-Kābul; ps, د کابل پوهنتون, translit=Da Kābul Pohantūn) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd ...
. He did his graduate studies in the U.S., where he received a master's degree in education from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1976. In 1996 Bakhtari, then a professor of literature at Kabul University, and his wife Noriajan were forced to flee Afghanistan because of the intolerance of the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
. They
sought refuge in Pakistan. Soon after, Nooria died and he remarried to Soriya Bakhtari, but with a rise in Taliban influence there as well, returned to the United States with the help of
World Relief
World Relief (officially, World Relief Corporation of National Association of Evangelicals) is an Evangelical Christian humanitarian nongovernmental organization, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and a leading refug ...
and the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which resettled them in
New Port Richey, Florida
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census.
History
B ...
. They moved to California after three months.
Work life
For 15 years, Bakhtari worked for the Ministry of Education, writing and translating text books. In 1978, he became the editor-in-chief of ''
Zhwandoon'' magazine. He has also served as a professor at Kabul University and influenced many other Persian writers and poet in Afghanistan.
Political life
Bakhtari was one of the founders and leaders of the leftist and Maoist party,
Shalleh-ye Javiyd
Shola-e Javid ( prs, شعلهٔ جاوید, lit=Eternal flame) was an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party founded around 1964 in the Kingdom of Afghanistan. Its strategy was Maoist and populist, gaining support from university stu ...
. In 1978, when the Khalqi government took power, he was thrown into prison for two years. He left politics after he was freed in 1980.
Poetry and literature
Bakhtari is one of the most noted modern Persian poets and writers in Afghanistan. He is regarded as a literary leader to most Persian writers, poets, and linguists in Afghanistan. He was one of the first Persian poets to introduce ''she’r-e nimaa'i'' ("Nimaic poetry") and he is regarded in having his own style of Persian poetry. He was under the influence of
Rahi Moayeri,
Amiri Firoozkouhi, and
Ahmad Shamlou
Ahmad Shamlou ( fa, احمد شاملو, ''Ahmad Šāmlū'' , also known under his pen name A. Bamdad ( fa, ا. بامداد)) (December 12, 1925 – July 23, 2000) was an Iranian poet, writer, and journalist. Shamlou was arguably the most infl ...
.
WWW.Afghanasamai.com
/ref>
References
See also
* Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakhtari, Wasef
Tajik poets
Afghan Tajik people
20th-century Afghan poets
Afghan writers
1942 births
Living people
Afghan expatriates in the United States
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
Afghan expatriates in Pakistan
21st-century Afghan poets