Cyrus Atabay (6 September 1929 – 26 January 1996) was a Persian-German poet. He mostly wrote in German and also translated works of Persian literature into German.[1] Atabay was decorated on numerous occasions for his literary efforts, including the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize in 1990 and the Hugo-Jacobi-Preis in 1957.[1]
Cyrus Atabay | |
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![]() Grave tomb of Cyrus Atabay in Munich | |
Born | (1929-09-06)6 September 1929 Sa'dabad Complex, Tehran, Iran[1] |
Died | 26 January 1996(1996-01-26) (aged 66)[2] Munich, Germany |
Nationality | Iranian |
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Relatives | Reza Shah (grandfather) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (uncle) |
Family | Pahlavi dynasty |
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Cyrus Atabay was born in Tehran as the son of Hadi Atabay and Hamdamsaltaneh Pahlavi, the first daughter of Reza Shah.[1] Before turning 8 years old, Cyrus was sent to Berlin by his father to attend school; he lived in Germany during World War II.[1] After the war, he lived in Iran and Switzerland.[1] In Switzerland, Cyrus's talent for poetry was noted by author Max Rychner, and in Germany by Gottfried Benn; both wrote positively about him.[1] His works were published for the first time in 1948 in Die Tat ("The deed"), a Swiss journal.[1] In 1951, Cyrus returned to Germany from Switzerland and studied literature at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (1952–1960). As a student in Munich, his "first three poetry collections" were published, in 1956, 1958 and 1960 respectively.[1] In 1965, Cyrus published his first work of translation, consisting of a selection of ghazals originally written by the Medieval Persian poet Hafez.[1] In 1978, Cyrus moved to London where he met Elias Canetti and Erich Fried. He moved back to Germany in 1983 where he lived until his death.[1]
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