The Tale of the Beloved Samarkandi

Hekayat-e-Yar-e-Samarkandi or The Tale of the Beloved Samarkandi is a selection of Mirza Agha Asgari’s (commonly known as Mani) social poems and love poems published in Cyrillic for the Tajik people by Sturnus Publications. The preface is written by Dr. Noorali Noorzad (University of Khujand) and Dr. Umriddin Yusufov (National university of Tajikistan - Dushanbe). The poems were transcribed to Cyrillic by Dr. Umriddin Yusufov.

Mani (Mirza Agha Asgari) was born in Iran in 1951. His first collection of poems, Tomorrow is the first day of the world, was published in 1975. At present, over 60 of Mani’s works have been published. He also writes novels and literary critiques.

Mani has been living in Germany since 1984. Some of his books have been published in German as well as other languages. He is a member of the German Authors’ Union. Well-known Iranian poets refer to him as one of the best and most productive poets of contemporary Persian literature. His book Literature and Eroticism is the first research work on the subject of erotic Persian poetry.

Not only has Mani been a pioneer in Persian love and erotic poems, but he has also been one of the most active members of the Iranian enlightenment movement.