Persian literature (Persian: ادبیات فارسی‎ or ادبیات پارسی) spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language. For instance, Molana (Rumi), one of Persia's best-loved poets, born in Balkh (in what is now Afghanistan), wrote in Persian, and lived in Konya then the capital of the Seljuks. The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all this literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians/Iranians. Particularly Indic and Turkic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures.

Fereydoon Moshiri (Persian: ﻓﺮﻳﺪﻭﻥ ﻣﺸﻴﺮى ‎, born September 21, 1926 in Tehran, Iran - died October 24, 2000 in Tehran) was one of the prominent contemporary Persian poets who versified in both modern and classic styles of the Persian poem. He is best known as conciliator of classical Persian poetry at one side with the New Poetry initiated by Nima Yushij at the other side. One of the major contributions of Moshiri's poetry is the broadening of the social and geographical scope of modern Persian literature.

Fereydoon Moshiri was born in Tehran to a family known for their legacy of poetry. His school years were divided between Tehran and Mashhad where his father held administrative posts.

With the outbreak of the World War II the family moved to Tehran and the young Moshiri continued his education at Dar ol-Fonoon and then in Adib High School. Throughout these years his first poems appeared in progressive journals such as Iran-e-Ma. This was the beginning of a career in literary journalism that continued for more than thirty years. In 1946 Moshiri joined the Iranian Department of Telecommunication where he served till retirement. In 1954 Moshiri married Eghbal Akhavan, then an art student at Tehran University. Their daughter and son, Bahar and Babak, became architects.