TEHRAN -- Iranian children’s book writer Hushang Moradi Kermani, whose works also appeal to adults, has said that he never has been prone to exaggerate about Iranians in his works, most of which have been translated into several different languages.

“I have presented Iranians without exaggeration or sloganeering,” Moradi Kermani said in Ketab-Baz, a Nasim TV program that promotes reading.

He also added that his works have never intended to tell non-Iranians that Iranians are better than them.

“I raised non-Iranians’ awareness about Iranians and Iranian culture,” he noted. 

An English translation of his autobiography “You’re No Stranger Here” (also known as “Believe It or Not”) by Caroline Croskery was released by Candle & Fog Publishing Ltd. during the London Book Fair this year in April. 

In this book, he recounts how his life in Sirch, his little village in the southern Iranian province of Kerman, paved the way for his writing.

“I was raised in a village located in a valley; I was raised with mountains, sky, birds, river and cows, for all of which I had stories,” he said.

“I went to sleep with stories from my grandfather who was a good storyteller. He usually fell asleep before he finsihed his stories, but in my mind, I continued the stories, which sometimes were very fictional,” he stated.      

His “The Water Urn” and “A Sweet Jam” had previously published into English.

Photo: Iranian children’s book writer Hushang Moradi Kermani in an undated photo

MMS/YAW