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	<author id="101514">
  <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
  <fans-count type="integer">12</fans-count>
  <followers-count type="integer">2</followers-count>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1235757904p5/101514.jpg</image_url>
  <about><![CDATA[Ferdowsi, the son of a wealthy land owner, was born in 935 in a small village named Paj near Tus in Khorasan which is situated in today's Razavi Khorasan province in Iran.

He devoted more than 35 years to his great epic, the Shāhnāmeh.  It was originally composed for presentation to the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Iranian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. Ferdowsi started his composition of the Shahnameh in the Samanid era in 977 A.D. During Ferdowsi's lifetime the Samanid dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Empire.  After 30 years of hard work, he finished the book and two or three years after that, Ferdowsi went to Ghazni, the Ghaznavid capital, to present it to the king, Sultan Mahmud.

Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty at the age of 85, embittered by royal neglect, though fully confident of his work's ultimate success and fame, as he says in the verse:
&quot; ... I suffered during these thirty years, but I have revived the Iranians (Ajam) with the Persian language; I shall not die since I am alive again, as I have spread the seeds of this language ...&quot;

&lt;i&gt;(from &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi&quot;&gt;wikipedia&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/i&gt;]]></about>    <gender>male</gender>  <hometown>Tus</hometown>  <born_at>01/03/935</born_at>  <died_at>01/01/1020</died_at>  
  
  
  <books>
        <book id="157985">
  <title><![CDATA[Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.57</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>331</ratings_count>
  <published>400</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="1692949">
  <title><![CDATA[رستم و سهراب]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.22</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>99</ratings_count>
  <published>2007</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="1692951">
  <title><![CDATA[رستم و اسفنديار]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.11</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>90</ratings_count>
  <published>2007</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="410010">
  <title><![CDATA[The Legend of Seyavash]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.42</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>33</ratings_count>
  <published>2004</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="115530">
  <title><![CDATA[The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam from the Persian National Epic, the Shahname of Abol-Qasem Ferdowsi: From the Persian National Epic, the Shahname of Abol-Qasem ... Near East, University of Washington, No. 3)]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.38</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>24</ratings_count>
  <published>1988</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="3482873">
  <title><![CDATA[شاهنامه فردوسی  از دستنویس موزه فلورانس]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
        <author>
      <name><![CDATA[به اهتمام دکتر عزیزالله جوینی]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/368842]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.60</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>20</ratings_count>
  <published>2008</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="157986">
  <title><![CDATA[The Lion and the Throne: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, Vol. 1]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.25</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>16</ratings_count>
  <published>1998</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="115529">
  <title><![CDATA[The Tragedy of Sohrab and Rostam: From the Persian National Epic, the Shahname of Abol-Oasem Ferdowsi (Publications on the Near East, University of Washington, No. 3)]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.40</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>15</ratings_count>
  <published>1988</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="478162">
  <title><![CDATA[Rostam: Tales of Love &amp; War from Persia's Book of Kings]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.06</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>16</ratings_count>
  <published>2007</published>  
  
</book>
        <book id="268838">
  <title><![CDATA[In the Dragon's Claws: The Story of Rostam and Esfandiyar from the Persian Book of Kings]]></title>
  <authors>
    <author>
      <name><![CDATA[ابوالقاسم فردوسی / Abolghasem Ferdowsi]]></name>
      <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/101514._Abolghasem_Ferdowsi]]></link>
    </author>
      </authors>
  <average_rating>4.00</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>12</ratings_count>
  <published>1999</published>  
  
</book>
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