Javad Mojabi

Javad Mojabi (19 October 1939 to 5 September 2026) was an Iranian poet, novelist, satirist, painter, journalist, and one of the country's most prolific literary and visual-arts critics. Born in Qazvin in a neighbourhood known by his family name, he spent early years in the Alamut region because of his father's employment, then finished schooling in Qazvin. In 1958 he entered the University of Tehran to study law; after his bachelor's he earned a doctorate in economics. His younger brother Hossein, a painter, died in 1963 at age 19. Painting remained a private practice for Mojabi from childhood, even as he insisted he was not primarily a painter. Publicly he became a central critic and historian of modern Iranian visual art.

For about nineteen years he worked at the Ministry of Justice, then as a cultural expert at the Ministry of Culture and the Arts. In parallel he was a professional journalist. From 1968 to 1978 he served as cultural editor of the daily Ettela'at (Tabnak and BBC timelines extend cultural-desk work to about 1979, when he was purged from Ettela'at). He also worked with literary magazines including Ferdowsi, Jahan-e Now, Khooshe, Adineh, and Donya-ye Sokhan (which he edited for a period). In early 1978, with colleagues from Kayhan and Ayandegan, he helped form the Foundation for Independent Journalists, which ceased after the 1979 revolution.

His first poetry collection, Fasli Barayeh To (A Season for You), appeared in 1344 (1965-66) when he was about twenty-five; he later called it his formal entry into the literary generation of his time. Over six decades he published more than fifty works by Wikipedia counts, and more than seventy by Tabnak and Euronews tallies, across poetry, short stories, novels (including Shabeh Malakh / Night of the Locust, Obour Az Baqeh Qermez / Passing through the Red Garden, Shahr-Bandan, Mumyai), satire (Nish-khandeh Irani, Yad-dasht-hayeh Adameh Por Modea), children's books, plays and screenplays, and research. Major research titles include Shenakhnameh-ye Shamlou, Shenakhnameh-ye Saedi, a multi-volume history of Iranian modern visual arts, and Tarikh-e Tanz-e Adabi-ye Iran (history of literary satire). Style notes in English Wikipedia place him near Nima in lineage but closer to Ahmad Shamlou in blank verse, sweetening philosophical and social themes with satire.

He married Asie Javadi (also known as Nastin Mojabi) on 9 Mehr 1343 (early October 1964). They had two children, Poupak (born 6 Azar 1345 / late November 1966) and Hossein (born 29 Bahman 1352 / February 1974). Poupak appears in several of his poetry titles. Their Tehran home was a long-running salon for poets and artists.

Mojabi criticised censorship under both the late Pahlavi and Islamic Republic periods. He was among the producers and signatories of the 1373 (1994-95) "We are writers" statement (the 134 writers' text). In 1375 (1996) he was one of twenty-one writers on the Armenia-bound bus that Iranian intelligence later linked to a failed mass-killing attempt in the chain-murders file. He publicly described the 2009 Green Movement protests as peaceful, democratic, and freedom-seeking in a Radio Farda interview and shared related poems. He later signed statements supporting Woman, Life, Freedom student protesters, calling for release of political prisoners, and opposing repression of cultural elites.

In Tir 1405, while hospitalised at Iranmehr Hospital in Tehran, he exhibited paintings titled Shab-haye Sefid-e Bimarestan va Man (White Nights of the Hospital and Me) and donated rights in the works to the hospital. After a period of illness, which Radio Farda reported as cancer, he died in hospital in Tehran on Saturday 14 Shahrivar 1405 (5 September 2026 per Tabnak; EN Wikipedia lists 4 September 2026), aged 86. His family told IRNA/Tabnak that only a funeral would be held for now, burial details to follow, and that after burial his home would welcome mourners for seven days with no further formal ceremonies.