Mehrdad Koohi

Mehrdad Koohi was born in Tehran, Iran, and spent his childhood there during the early years of the Iranian Revolution. In 1985, with no end in sight to the Iran-Iraq war, Mehrdad traveled to Greece with his mother, where they lived as refugees until 1988, after which they immigrated to Canada. Besides the invaluable gifts of experience, the upheaval and displacements of his early life led to Mehrdad gaining fluency in Greek and English in addition to his Persian mother tongue. Access to literature in these three languages has informed Mehrdad’s writing during the years he has devoted to honing his craft. His urge to write fiction is rooted in the oral storytelling tradition of his family. Mehrdad’s grandmother, aunts, uncles, and parents are all avid storytellers, and he has spent many hours listening to their large repertoire of tales.

Mehrdad is also a musician and video artist, exploring ways in which some of his literary ideas might be expressed in multimedia forms. His work includes literary fiction, stories inspired by folk tales and mythology, as well as children’s fiction. He has a master’s degree in linguistics from York University and is a member of the Ontario College of Teachers as a children’s educator.