Ali Babachahi

Ali Babachahi (Persian: علی باباچاهی; 11 November 1942 – 23 February 2026; 20 Aban 1321 – 4 Esfand 1404 in the Solar Hijri calendar) was an Iranian poet, literary critic, researcher and writer. A recognised figure of modern Persian poetry in the generation after Nima, he became in the 1990s one of the most debated theorists and critics of contemporary Iranian poetry, introducing the notions of "post-Nimaic poetry" (she'r-e pasa-nimai) and, later, "poetry in another situation" (she'r dar vaz'iyat-e digar). He taught literature in Bushehr for about eighteen years and founded the literary magazine Tekapu there in 1967; the magazine was closed under pressure from SAVAK. In October 1977 he read his poems at the Ten Nights of Goethe in Tehran. After the revolution he was forcibly retired in 1983. For many years he edited the poetry pages of the monthly Adineh. He was a member of the Writers' Association of Iran and one of the passengers of the coach that was meant to be driven into a ravine during the 1996 Armenia bus incident. His collection In kashti-ye por-asrar ("This Mysterious Ship") was named in 2016 joint winner of the first Ahmad Shamlou Poetry Prize. He published more than thirty books of poetry, criticism and research.