Iranian thinker
Arash Nalchegar
Arash NalchegarPersian poetry interpretation and conversational podcastingIranian
Life and Thought
Arash Nalchegar is an Iranian media creator and the founder of two media projects, "Persian Poetry" and "Fuse Podcast." Through "Persian Poetry," he offers simplified, English-accompanied interpretations of classical Persian poets such as Hafez, Saadi, Khayyam, Rumi, and Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, while "Fuse Podcast" features deep, uncensored conversations with guests from science, the arts, psychology, and Iran's social and political landscape.
Arash Nalchegar is an Iranian media creator who pursues two parallel lines of work: interpreting classical Persian poetry and hosting in-depth conversational podcasts.
His first project, "Persian Poetry," is a channel dedicated to interpreting the ghazals and works of major Persian poets such as Hafez, Saadi, Khayyam, and Rumi, along with portions of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, using accessible language often paired with English explanations or translations. The project has built a substantial following on platforms like YouTube and Telegram, aiming to bring the classical literary heritage closer to a modern audience, including Persian speakers living outside Iran.
His second and better-known project is "Fuse Podcast," a conversation-driven show in which Nalchegar hosts a diverse range of guests, including scientists, artists, physicians, psychotherapists, and social activists. The podcast centers on frank, uncensored discussions of personal experience, psychological and social challenges, and pressing political issues facing Iranian society—topics that have included state repression, the psychology of obedience to authority (drawing on well-known studies such as the Milgram experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment), and examinations of political systems. The show maintains an intimate, humanistic tone and aims to avoid cliché and superficiality in tackling difficult subjects.