Kader Abdolah

Kader Abdolah is one of the descendants of Mirza Abu'l-Qasem Qa'em-Maqam, the Iranian politician during the Qajar period who was also affiliated with art and literature.

Kader Abdolah had long wished to become an author. He used his political passion to begin his career after the Islamic revolution in 1979 by writing articles in the leftist political newspapers.{{cite journal |last= Dynarowicz |first= Ewa |date= 2018 |title= A Migrant Writer's Manifesto: Kader Abdolah as a Public Intellectual |url= https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03096564.2017.1363023 |journal= Dutch Crossing |volume= 42 |issue= 1 |pages= 77–95 |doi= 10.1080/03096564.2017.1363023 |s2cid= 149034013 |access-date= 2023-06-14}}

In the 1980s, he wrote two novels which were published illegally because of the political constraints: What are the Kurds saying? and Kurdistan after the resistance party.

When he immigrated to the Netherlands, he felt as if political issues were no longer relevant to his life and he fell into a state of depression because he had thought of political activities as the essence of his life. Learning Dutch and to write in the language is therefore described by him as a political tool for fighting. Literature had turned into the incentive for a new fight.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/arts/2010/02/100221_l11_kader_abdolah|title=قادر عبدالله؛ قصه ایرانی به زبان هلندی}}

Kader Abdolah studied physics in Arak College of Science (today's Arak University [although the Dutch and French articles say a different school]) in Arak, Iran, and graduated in 1977. After graduation he served his mandatory military service in the Iranian Navy in Bandar Pahlavi (today's Bandar-e-Anzali). During the revolution, he joined the left-wing movement opposing the Shah—and later the Khomeini—regimes. He fled to the Netherlands as a political refugee in 1988. In 2006, he was writer in residence at Leiden University. Today [when?] he lives in Delft, writing under a pseudonym composed of the names of two executed friends.

Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque) catapulted Abdolah onto the Dutch bestseller lists. In 2007 it was voted second best Dutch novel ever in the Netherlands in an online survey organized by NRC Handelsblad and NPS.{{cite web|title='De ontdekking van de hemel' beste Nederlands boek|url=https://www.trouw.nl/home/-de-ontdekking-van-de-hemel-beste-nederlands-boek~af670bbb/|website=trouw.nl|accessdate=4 May 2018}} The English translation was released worldwide in January 2010.{{cite web|url= https://literaturfestival.com/en/authors/kader-abdolah/ |title= Kader Abdolah |publisher= Berlin International Literature Festival}}

• 1993 – De adelaars
• 1995 – De meisjes en de partizanen
• 1997 – De reis van de lege flessen
• 1998 – Is dit mijn recht, mijn lief?
• 1998 – Buitenspiegels: verhalen over Nederland
• 1998 – Mirza
• 1998 – Short Shorties
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=El viaje de las botellas vacias |publisher=Galaxia Gutenberg/Circulo de Lectores |year=1999}}
• 1999 – Les jeunes filles et les partisans
• {{Cite book |title= My Father's Notebook: A Novel of Iran |last= Kader |first= Abdolah |authorlink= Kader Abdolah |year= 2000 |publisher= |isbn= 978-0-060-59872-3 |pages= 336 |url= }}
• 2001 – De koffer
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= Il viaggio delle bottiglie vuote |publisher= Iperborea |year= 2001}} {{ISBN|978-8-870-91096-4}}
• 2001 – Een tuin in zee
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= Scrittura cuneiforme |publisher= Iperborea |year=}} {{ISBN|978-8-870-91118-3}}
• 2001 – Andere ogen: Een frisse blik op
• 2002 – Kélilé en Demné
• 2002 – Sophia's droë vrugte
• 2003 – Portretten en een oude droom
• 2003 – Karavaan
• 2005 - Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque){{cite news | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-house-of-the-mosque-by-kader-abdolah-trans-susan-massotty-1860902.html | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Arifa | last=Akbar | title=The House of the Mosque, By Kader Abdolah trans Susan Massotty | date=8 January 2010}}
• 2006 – II viaggio delle botiglie vuote
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=El reflejo de las palabras |publisher=SALAMANDRA |year=2006}} {{ISBN|978-8-498-38034-7}}
• 2007 – Voetstappen
• 2008 – De boodschapper: een vertelling / de Koran: een vertaling. A two volume set: De boodschapper: een vertelling ('The Messenger: a narration') about the life of the prophet Mohammed, and de Koran: een vertaling ('The Qur'an: a translation'), Abdolah's Dutch translation of the Qur'an
• 2008 – Das Haus an der Moschee
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= DZAMIJSKA KUCA |publisher= Dereta – Beograd |year= 2009}}
• 2010 – Mohammad, der Prophet
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= Ritratti e un vecchio sogno (Narrativa) |publisher= Iperborea |year= 2010}}
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= Calila e Dimna (Narrativa) |publisher= Iperborea |year= 2011}}
• 2011 – De koning
• 2011 – De kraai
• 2012 – IL re
• 2012 – How Europe is changing {{ISBN|978-0-615-46655-2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=Il corvo |publisher=Iperborea |year=2013}} {{ISBN|978-8-870-91522-8}}
• 2014 – Papegaai vloog over de IJssel
• {{Cite book |title= The King: A Novel |last= Kader |first= Abdolah |authorlink= Kader Abdolah |year= 2014 |publisher= Librairie Klincksieck |isbn= |pages= 401 |url= }}
• 2016 – Messenger, The: A Tale Retold
• 2016 – Salam Europa!
• {{Cite book |last= Abdolah |first= Kader |title= Un pappagallo volò sull'IJssel (Narrativa) |publisher= Iperborea |year= 2016}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=A parrot flew over the Ijssel |publisher=Iperborea |year=2016}} {{ISBN|978-8-870-91466-5}}
• 2016 – Qur'an the {{ISBN|978-9-462-38023-3}}
• 2018 – Het pad van de gele slippers
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=Uno scià alla corte d'Europa |publisher=Iperborea |year=2018}} {{ISBN|978-8-870-91494-8}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=Le Messager |publisher=Editions Gallimard |year=2018}}
• 2020 – The House of the Mosque {{ISBN|978-1-847-67240-7}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kader |first=Abdolah |title=Il faraone d'Olanda (Narrativa) |publisher=Iperborea |year=2022}}

• Best selling debut of 1993 for his book De adelaars(Eagles).{{cite web|url= https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2008/mar/kader-abdolah-kitchen-writer | title= Iran: Kader Abdolah: In the kitchen of the writer | publisher = UCL }}
• Dutch Media Prize, 1997 for his book Mirza
• E. du Perronprijs of 2000 for his novel Spijkerschrift.{{cite web |url=http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/nieuws-en-agenda/persberichten/2001/01/jury.html |language=nl |title=E. du Perronprijs 2000 |publisher=Tilburg University |accessdate=2011-03-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316140756/http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/nieuws-en-agenda/persberichten/2001/01/jury.html |archive-date=16 March 2012 }}
• Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Dutch: Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw) in 2000.{{cite web |url=http://www.denederlandsegrondwet.nl/9353000/1/j9vvihlf299q0sr/vima7je1lazv?ctx=vhk5insyo7zu&tab=1 |title=Kader Abdolah – De koning en de kraai |work=Nederlandse Grondwet |language=nl |publisher=Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) |accessdate=2011-03-18}}
• Knight in the French Order of Arts and Literature (French: Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) in 2008.{{cite web |url=http://www.ambafrance-nl.org/spip.php?article9210 |title=Kader Abdolah "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" |publisher=French Embassy in The Hague |accessdate=2011-03-19}}
• Honorary doctor at the University of Groningen in 2009.{{cite web |url=http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Stijl/Society/209257/Universiteit-eert-Kader-Abdolah-met-eredoctoraat.htm |author=Luc van Kemenade |date=October 2008 |title=Universiteit eert Kader Abdolah met eredoctoraat |language=nl |publisher=Elsevier |accessdate=2011-03-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319153742/http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Stijl/Society/209257/Universiteit-eert-Kader-Abdolah-met-eredoctoraat.htm |archive-date=19 March 2012 }}
• Invitation to write the 2011 {{Interlanguage link|Boekenweekgeschenk|nl}}, a gift (De Kraai) to buyers of Dutch books during the Boekenweek.{{cite web |url=http://www.boekenweek.nl/nieuws/nieuws3_kader-abdolah-schrijft-boekenweekgeschenk-2011.html |title=Kader Abdolah schrijft Boekenweekgeschenk 2011 |date=13 April 2010 |language=nl |publisher=Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlandse Boek |accessdate=2011-03-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911000200/http://www.boekenweek.nl/nieuws/nieuws3_kader-abdolah-schrijft-boekenweekgeschenk-2011.html |archive-date=11 September 2011 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last= Weisman |first= Sarah Conrad |date= 2006 |title= My Father's Notebook |journal= Library Journal |volume= 131 |issue= 1 |pages= 1 |issn= 0363-0277 }}
• {{cite journal |last= Dynarowicz |first= Ewa |date= 2022 |title= Handicap als narratieve prothese in het werk van Kader Abdolah |url= https://www.aup-online.com/content/journals/10.5117/NEDLET2022.2.004.DYNA |journal= Nederlandse Letterkunde |volume= 27 |issue= 2 |pages= 214–238 |doi= 10.5117/NEDLET2022.2.004.DYNA |s2cid= 252062638 |access-date= 2023-02-01}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?seriesid=b3851dd2-b21d-43d7-8ea4-1058c1614b2e&p=1&ipp=15&category= Kader Abdolah at UC Berkeley: Literature as Resistance: Role of Clandestine Literature in Dictatorships like Iran]
• [https://www.worldeditions.org/authors/kader-abdolah/ Kader Abdolah's brief background at World Editions.org]
• [https://wordswithoutborders.org/contributors/view/kader-abdolah/ Contributor: Kader Abdolah at Words Without Borders]
• {{cite web |url=http://www.nlpvf.nl/basic/auteur1.php?Author_ID=2 |title=Kader Abdolah – Biography |publisher=Nederlands Literair Productie- en Vertalingenfonds (Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, NLPVF) |date=6 February 2009 |accessdate=2011-03-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927012644/http://www.nlpvf.nl/basic/auteur1.php?Author_ID=2 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite web | url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bork001schr01_01/bork001schr01_01_0004.php |title=Abdolah, Kader |author=G.J. van Bork |year=2004 |publisher=Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (Digital Library for Dutch Literature, DBNL) |accessdate=2011-03-19|language=nl}}
• {{cite web | url=http://www.dbnl.org/auteurs/auteur.php?id=abdo001 |title=Kader Abdolah |publisher=Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren (Digital Library for Dutch Literature, DBNL) |accessdate=2011-03-19|language=nl}}
• [https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/kader-abdolah.html Books by Kader Abdolah and Complete Book Reviews at Publishers Weekly]
• [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1812172/ Kader Abdolah] IMDb

• {{cite magazine |author= |title= READINGS AND TALKS: KADER ABDOLAH |url= |magazine= New Yorker |location= New York, United States |publisher= |issn= 0028-792X |date= 1979-02-05 |access-date=}}
• {{cite magazine |last= Shirazi |first= Said |date= 2006-02-20 |title= Losing Persian, Finding Iran: PW Talks with Kader Abdolah |url= |magazine= Publishers Weekly |location= |publisher=|issn= 0000-0019 |access-date=}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdolah}}

Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Arak, Iran

Category:People from Markazi province

Category:Iranian writers

Category:Iranian emigrants to the Netherlands

Category:20th-century Dutch writers

Category:21st-century Dutch writers

Category:Arak University alumni