COMING MARCH 2025

THE READER’S EDITION

Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings

By Abolqasem Ferdowsi
Contemporary translation by Ahmad Sadri
Edited by Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard
Introduction by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

A fresh and compulsively readable new translation of the Persian epic Shahnameh, for fans of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.

We are excited to announce that the new Reader’s Edition of Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings is in the final stages of production. It will be released in March 2025 through our publisher, Liveright and available wherever books are sold.

We have partnered once again with the talented Dr. Ahmad Sadri to complete the full translation of Ferdowsi’s masterpiece. The original poem of more than 50,000 lines is divided into two parts. Part I contains the epic and mythological section beginning with the spark of civilization through the death of the mythical hero Rostam. Part II contains a fictionalized retelling of ancient Iranian history through the Arab conquest in the seventh century ACE.

Our original illustrated edition of Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings (2013) contained the first part of the poem. Now, after more than three years of painstaking work and attention to every detail, we have completed the historical section. This new reader’s edition is an accessible translation that will delight readers across the literary spectrum.

We can’t wait to share this new project with you! Stay tuned for more details.

Persian Mythology for the Modern World

Eleventh-century Persian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi devoted more than thirty years to crafting the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings. Since its appearance over a thousand years ago, it has come to be considered Iran’s national epic, its more than 50,000 couplets telling the story of creation and chronicling the legends and kings, the heroes and quests and mythical creatures, at the heart of Persian mythology. Ahmad Sadri’s prose translation of the Shahnameh into English opens the world of the Persian empire kings to new audiences across the globe. His new English translation and adaptation presents the original poem in accessible, fresh prose. This contemporary English rendition of the epic of the Persian kings is an extraordinary literary accomplishment.

This book was made possible
with the generous support of the
Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation

This book is published by Liveright, a division of W.W.Norton & Company