Gholamhossein Saedi

Gholamhossein Sa'edi (1935–1985) was an Iranian physician, psychiatrist, fiction writer, playwright, and ethnographer. He was born in Tabriz, completed his medical studies at the University of Tabriz, and later practiced psychiatry in Tehran. Sa'edi also wrote under the pseudonym Gowhar Morad. He was an influential member of the Writers Association of Iran and, after the revolution, moved to France, where he died in Paris.

Sa'edi is one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian fiction and drama. His works combine social realism, psychological anxiety, an eerie atmosphere, black humor, and a critique of power. His medical and psychiatric experience plays a crucial role in creating characters trapped by fear, delirium, poverty, illness, and social collapse. Through his ethnographic monographs on villages, marginalized areas, and local rituals, he also contributed to the cultural understanding of contemporary Iran.