Biography
Mostafa Rahandoust was born on the first day of Tir 1329 in Hamedan. When he was in the fifth grade, he realized that he could write poetry. The first poems he had memorized were the Masnavi poems of Rumi, which his mother sometimes hummed. Mostafa Rahandoust says about his father: “My father was physically strong, but when he recited poetry about Karbala, he would tear up. For me, who saw him as strong and powerful, seeing his tears and sorrow was strange.
I really wanted to know what those black words printed on the paper of Samet and Qamari’s divan were and what power they had that made my powerful father cry.” And this was the reason why, as soon as he learned to read and write, he tried to read the poems of these two divans. At school, he was one of the mainstays of Moshayareh (poetry recitation), read Hafez, and tried to memorize his poems.
Mostafa, after spending six years of primary school, entered the secondary education cycle. He spent the first three years at Ebn-e Sina High School. He says about the library of this high school: “It had a good library, but it was hard for me to borrow books from there; I read many of the books there. I also compensated for the shortcomings by renting books and reading them quickly. I paid one rial per night to rent a book. In short, I also heard some of the books from book-loving kids to pay less rent.”
Rahandoust spent the second three years of high school at Amir Kabir High School in the literature track. According to him, that high school did not have a library, and with his efforts and hard work, and with the great help of Mr. Akrami – who himself had started a library in the upper room of Mirza Taqi Mosque in Hamedan called Kherad Library – he established a library, most of whose books were religious.
Mostafa Rahandoust, during high school, encouraged by his father, studied seminary courses for a while. During this period, he had three teachers, and the best of them was an Afghan seminary student with whom he finished the intermediate level (Sath). In the final years of high school, he turned to music and painting; although he did not make progress in painting, he went far enough in music to play the santur at school ceremonies.
In 1349, he came to Tehran to continue his studies and enrolled in university in the field of Persian language and literature. His presence in Tehran was an opportunity to get acquainted with Dr. Ali Shariati, Martyr Professor Morteza Motahari, and Martyr Dr. Beheshti. He says about this: “Going to and from the class sessions of these great men and participating in the literary and artistic circles and gatherings of those days caused me to gather valuable clusters from the harvest of the knowledgeable and hard-to-reach knowledge.”
He continued his studies until obtaining his doctorate. Rahandoust’s first writing was published during high school, and towards the end of his student years, he discovered children and young people’s literature and decided to follow this path. Rahandoust says: “I studied psychology; I worked on easy-to-read writing; I thumbed through children’s books; I became a children’s teacher; I taught in several places; first I wrote stories: Sarbedaran and Selfish Aunt, and then, I composed poetry.”
Such as manager of the TV children’s program, manager of the Publications Center of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, editor-in-chief of Pouyeh magazine, managing director of Roshd magazines, editor-in-chief of Roshd-e Danesh-amouz, and editor-in-chief of Soroush-e Koodakan. For 30 years, Mostafa Rahandoust has been working for children without interruption, and all his jobs are related to children and young people’s literature.
During the three years he was the General Director of the Office of Cultural Activities and Assemblies, he changed the office’s job description and made a concerted effort to transfer selected Iranian children and young people’s literature into other languages. Other activities of Rahandoust include membership in the judging panels of the Book of the Year, the Children’s Book and Press Festival, membership in judging panels of international children’s film festivals, membership in the Children’s Music Council, and…
Rahandoust has made great efforts to pave the way for those who truly care about children and are committed to engaging with children and young people’s poetry and stories. To this end, he has established many sessions for teaching poetry and stories to talented youth and has set up many story and poetry critique sessions. Currently, he only writes and composes and is preparing a large educational package for six-year-old children.
Four years ago, he launched a children’s electronic library called “Doostaneh”, intending to bring selected works of children and young people’s creations into this international website so that all children can access their own books via computer. So far, 114 titles of poetry collections, stories, and translations by him have been published, and 10 other works are under print, the most important of which are “Farhang-e Asan” (Easy Dictionary) for fourth-grade children and above, “Farhang-e Zarb-ol-Masalha” (Dictionary of Proverbs) for middle school children, and four new poetry collections. Rahandoust has also translated the Holy Quran according to the age of teenagers.
Leila Tabasi:
Hello and good day
Mr. Rahandoust, in your opinion, how has children and young people’s literature changed from past years until now?
In a sense, children’s literature has not changed much from the past seven or eight years until now. But it has changed compared to the years after the revolution. At that time, translation in children’s literature was low, but later it reached a balance. If we want to examine it in terms of content, children’s literature after the revolution was subject-oriented ٬ message-oriented, giving messages rather than nurturing. But then gradually they realized it shouldn’t be this way. Even if we want to convey a message in children’s poetry, it must be indirect. In past years, there was children and young people’s literature ٬ but there was no literature for toddlers, or very little. I tried to have literary works for toddlers as well. Now the toddler age group is itself divided into three groups and has become more scientific compared to past years.
Are the books currently published in the field of children satisfactory?
This issue itself is divided into various branches.
1. Children’s books have become very excellent in terms of graphics and page layout.
2. In terms of poetry, children’s works have progressed a lot.
3. In terms of language, they are not very good and there are problems. Because most poems for children are in conversational language. This language is specific to toddlers, and poetry for children should be composed in standard language.
4. In terms of print run, it is terrifying. It has dropped from ten thousand to a thousand. This issue shows that the level of reading has decreased. Diversity in children’s books has increased, but the reading level is not satisfactory. People spend more on supplementary study books, which has lowered their ability to buy other books.
As someone who has worked professionally in the field of children, in your opinion, how are IRIB’s programs for children?
IRIB is fifty years behind our children. In my opinion, IRIB has had no program to even bring children from point a to b. Given this situation, our children and families prefer to watch foreign networks rather than Iranian ones.
What suggestions do you have for children’s program makers?
Our program makers, both in cinema and on children’s networks, can make good programs well, but they do not have good programs. There should be a think tank, and a group of thinkers outside of political issues should make programs that are a grand national plan for the children’s future. A program that brings children from point a to a desirable point is certainly not a religious or political program. We must prepare programs with which we can prepare our children to participate in a global society.
In your opinion, what should a children’s song for special children’s programs be like?
- First, it must definitely be appropriate for the target age group.
- Second, it must be completely based on Iranian music, not foreign music.
- Third, it must have joy and cheerfulness, because our children need a lot of joy.
سلام آقا من پارسا رضایی نوه خواهر همسر شما هستم و اینکه کی میاین پیش ما