Mehdi Meshgini earned a BSc and MSc in organic chemistry from Oregon State University, and a PhD in pulp and paper chemistry from the University of Washington. After his first academic job at Oregon State University as a research chemist in environmental pollution, he has been teaching chemistry in Vancouver for many years.

While his professional career has been in the sciences, his true passion has always been literature, particularly poetry. He is an avid reader of both Iranian and Western literature. In addition to his own collection of poems, he has published translation of William Blake’s poetry and several other books. One of his novels, “Nina”, gained widespread acclaim and was adapted into a film by the renowned director Abdul Reza Kahani. The movie has been nominated for Best Film at the Septimus Festival. He has also delivered numerous lectures on prominent Iranian literary figures, including Rumi, Hafez, Omar Khayyam, and Parveen Etesami,. His latest publication is a non-fiction book “Murder in Evin” which is about the goverment murder of Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi.