TEHRAN – Photographer Kurosh Adim has put his focus on the smiles of a number of contemporary Iranian poets in his new book.

Entitled “Smile of a Poet”, the book will contain portraits of 80 poets with smiles on their faces, Adim told the Persian service of Honaronline on Saturday. The book is due to be released by Butimar Publications within the next two months, he added.

On choosing the smiles of the poets, the photographer said, “As individuals who have grown up in the East, we recall sadness upon hearing the word ‘poetry’, and that is why I thought of highlighting other characteristics of poets as well.

“There are even some very interesting smiles of the poets among the portraits, and it is good for people to see these moments as well,” he explained.

He added that there are two portraits of each poet accompanied with a piece of their poetry, some of which have been chosen by the poets themselves, and some by a group at Butimar Publications.

There are plans to release a CD bearing the selection of the poetry to be published in the book recited by a famous voice actor.

“The publisher also wants to hold an exhibition of the photos in a gallery concurrent with the publication of the book,” he added.

Shams Langerudi, Hafez Musavi, Masud Ahmadi, Leila Sadeqi, Alireza Behnam, Hamid Erfan and Ali Qanbari are among the poets whose portraits will appear in the book.

RM/YAW