Houshang Ebtehaj, prominent Iranian poet, dies at 94

By AMIR VAHDAT
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Houshang Ebtehaj, a distinguished Iranian poet whose small but influential body of work made him a major figure in his own country and in world literature, has died in Cologne, Germany. He was 94. His death on Wednesday was confirmed by his daughter on Instagram. He was born in 1928 in Iran’s northern city of Rasht. Throughout the 20th century, Ebtehaj contributed to the popularity of the ghazal — a traditional form of Persian poetry set to music that expresses the writer’s feelings. Socialism was central to Ebtehaj’s identity, and he landed in prison after the 1979 Islamic Revolution for his politics. He became recognized for verses that modernized the traditions of 14th-century mystic poetry.