The celebrated author, poet, playwright, journalist, and publisher Abbas Maroufi died on Sept. 1 in Berlin at age 65, after a long battle with cancer of the mouth and throat. “Our beloved became eternal,” a post on Khaneh Hedayat Berlin’s Instagram page said. Mr. Maroufi was best known for his 1989 novel “Symphony of the Dead,” translated into English by Lotfali Khonji and published by Aflame Books in 2007. Maroufi’s “Symphony of the Dead” and his other notable work, “The Year of Turmoil” — which reflects Iran’s social and cultural climate — have been on the bestseller list in the country for many years. Both books as well as his 2009 novel “Fereydoon Had Three Sons” (2000) have been translated into German.
