“One hundred Rubies” is a very popular book in Iran. But why is that? Why a simple poem has captivated the Iranian minds for so long. Rahmandoost, the poet of “One hundred Rubies” recalls the memory of the day he created the poem: [during the seven-year war between Iran and Iraq] we were stuck in our positions for a long while. There was a food shortage due to siege and we couldn’t get any supplies from the support line… after some time we saw one of our own soldiers coming to us with a supply crate. We asked him how he managed to get here, and he told us “not to worry” and that they had “drove the enemy off”. In his crate there was two pomegranates as well. I remember breaking one and as I did that, the seeds dropped everywhere. Suddenly I recalled my mother who had passed away some time ago. She had a ruby necklace. Without really thinking about it, I started singing a verse: “One hundred rubies in perfect harmony, sitting in a row in one place.” I send the poem to Tehran and it was published in Keyhan Bacheha [a former popular magazine for kids]. And it has been famous ever since. Sang into popular songs and imbedded in movies. A poem created in the time of war, reminding us all how beautiful peace, life and nature are.

Mostafa Rahmandoost, poet, writer, and translator, was born in July 1950 in Hamedan.Rahmandoost majored in literature and has worked in different positions for years, including the manager of children’s section of Amirkabir Publishing (Shokoofeh), consultant to the Vice President, the head of the National Library, and the head of the National Library for Children and Young Adults. He has been a founder and a board member of the Association of Writers for Children and Youth. Rahmandoost has been the editor-in-chief and the founder of many children’s magazines, including Soroushe Koodakan and Roshde Daneshamooz. Rahmandoost’s poems appear in the textbooks of Iranian children and taught at schools.By publishing some of his works under the title of Uncle Mostafa in the USA, Rahmandoost made it possible for Iranian children living abroad to read, listen to, and buy his books.He is particularly invested in the growth of children’s publications and the first project of digitalizing Iranian children’s books, called “Doostaneh,” was supervised and carried out by him. In his writings, Rahmandoost pays tribute to Iranian folkloric literature and historic texts, using folktales in modern Iranian children’s literature. His works have been translated to and published in different languages. Among them, the collection of poems entitled The Story of Five Fingers and Playing with Fingers that are rooted in folkloric literature are translated to Swedish.