Aḥmad Shāmlū (b. Tehran 1925, d. Karaj 2000), whose pen name was A. Bāmdād, was an engagé Iranian poet, translator, and folklorist. Shāmlū was also one of the foremost promoters of literary culture and intellectual life in Iran in the twentieth century. Due to his father's employment as an army officer, Aḥmad Shāmlū lived in several cities in Iran during his childhood and thus became acquainted with the diverse linguistic and cultural traditions of his country. This experience inspired the author in the years around 1938 to begin a