او مانند بسیاری از هم نسل‌های خودش آن‌قدر درگیر جریان‌های سیاسی شد که در سن ۱۴ سالگی حبس را تجربه کرد و مدتی در بازداشتگاه نوجوانانی بود که فعالیت سیاسی می‌کردند.

تجربه‌ی پس از حبس روزهای هولناکی را برای این نوجوان ۱۴ساله رقم زد. ناصر تا مرز افسردگی پیش رفت. جنگ، فشارهای سیاسی، فرار نوجوانان و جوانان از مرزهای کشور (برای دور ماندن از جنگ )، موج پناهندگی، حضور گسترده‌ی جوانان و حتی نوجوانان در جبهه‌های جنگ، اسارت در عراق و از سوی درگیر شدن گروه دیگری از نوجوانان و جوانان در زندان‌ها و اعدام‌ها روزها را برای این نوجوان سخت و سخت‌تر می‌کرد.

ادبیات و رمان او را به زندگی وصل کرد. بخش بزرگی از رمان‌های کلاسیک سرشار از نگاه‌های انسانی، صلح‌طلبانه و در دفاع از اصل زندگی بود. او در این رمان‌ها با زندگی آشنا شد، هر چند که در محیط واقعی او زندگی به شکل دیگری پیش می‌رفت.

ناصر هنوز در دوران نوجوانی بود که به ادبیات صلح گرایش پیدا کرد و سعی کرد نمونه‌هایی از ادبیات کودکان را مطالعه کند که مروج و مدافع صلح باشند. از کتاب کودک، سرباز و دریا تا خاطرات آنا فرانک.

او در ادبیات کودک و نوجوان نمونه‌های بسیاری پیدا کرد که هر کدام از بنیان صلح دفاع می‌کردند و این تصویر را ارائه می‌دادند که کودکان می‌بایست در صلح و تفاهم زندگی کنند. این گونه بود که ناصر از همان دوران نوجوانی و پس از گذران تجربه‌های هولناک جنگ و ماجراهای سیاسی، مدافع صلح و نفی جنگ شد.

پرداختن به صلح آن هم در کشوری که در جنگ است کار سخت و دشواری بود و می‌توانست به نوعی دوباره فعالیت‌های سیاسی برای او محسوب شود.

این خستگی و درس‌های کسالت آور در دوران دبیرستان تبدیل به کلاس‌های رنج آوری برای او شد. مدرسه‌ها در دوران پس از انقلاب و فشارهای ناشی از جنگ و ماجراهای سیاسی، کلاس‌ها را برای او تبدیل به محیط خفقان‌آور کرده بود.

این فضای بسته موجب شد تا او بیش‌تر به سراغ نوشتن برود. او ساعت‌ها در مدرسه یا شعر می‌سرود، یا نقاشی می‌کرد و یا قصه می‌نوشت و یا می‌خواند.

ناصر پس از دوره‌ی دبیرستان وارد دانش‌کده‌ی روان‌شناسی دانش‌گاه تهران شد و استادانی را تجربه کرد که به طور خاص از شاگردان ژان پیاژه بودند. شور و شوق و عشق او به کودکان در دانش‌گاه تبدیل به آگاهی و دانش و بینش شد. از این دوره او سعی کرد که آگاهانه کار برای کودکان را پی‌گیری کند.

سال دوم دانش‌گاه بود که آتش‌بس جنگ ایران و عراق اعلام شد. به عبارتی تمام دوره‌ی نوجوانی و بخشی از جوانی او که در جنگ گذشت، حالا می‌توانست نوید خوبی برای حضور در دنیایی صلح‌آمیز باشد. حالا تمام شدن جنگ رویایی بود که ناصر از آن سرمست بود. او کوشید که بتواند دنیای صلح‌آمیز را با کودکان سهیم شود.

اما به دلایل مختلف جریان‌هایی در دولت وقت اصرار داشتند که فضای جنگ را هم‌چنان حفظ کنند. هنوز جریان‌هایی بودند که با آتش بس و با صلح موافق نبودند و از جنگ دفاع می‌کردند. به همین دلیل هنوز نام صلح در فضای عمومی جامعه یک موضوع حساس و سخت بود.

در ۱۳۶۷ یعنی در سن ۲۱سالگی اولین داستان او به نام "مهربان‌ترین اسب دنیا" به صورت کتابی مستقل منتشر شد. داستان درباره‌ی کره‌اسبی است که سعی ‌می‌کند به حیوان‌های اطراف خود کمک کند، داشته‌های خود را با دیگران سهیم شود و مهربانی را ترویج کند.

داستان مهربان‌ترین اسب دنیا در فضای پرالتهاب جنگ و پر از خشم و خشونت، با برخوردهای مختلف روبه‌رو شد. گروهی معتقد بودند که حال و هوای این داستان از جامعه دور است و یوسفی با کودکان غیر واقعی برخورد ‌می‌کند. با تمام اعتراض‌هایی که گروهی به این داستان داشتند، اما داستان با استقبال خوب کودکان روبه‌رو شد و از آن سال تا کنون نزدیک به بیست بار تجدید چاپ شده است. در همان سال ۶۷ نیز این کتاب در جشن‌واره‌ی کانون پرورش فکری کودکان و نوجوانان مورد تقدیر قرار گرفت.

با تمام اعتراض‌هایی که از فضای رسمی به کارهای یوسفی می‌شد، اما او هم‌چنان به نوشتن داستان‌های مبتنی بر صلح و دوستی ادامه داد.

داستان "تاک روباه کوچک"، داستان بچه‌روباهی است که تصمیم می‌گیرد شکار نکند و با سایر حیوان‌ها از راه دوستی وارد شود. این داستان یکی از داستان‌های محبوب کودکان شد و بارها در برنامه‌های رادیویی کودکان قصه‌خوانی شد و در قالب نمایش رادیویی برای کودکان پخش شد.

از سال ۱۳۷۰ فعالیت‌های کاری و حرفه‌‌ای او شکل جدیدی پیدا ‌می‌کند. او به همراه گروهی از دوستان و همکارانش «‌مؤسسه‌ی پژوهشی کودکان دنیا» را تأسیس ‌می‌کند و در این سازمان غیر دولتی مشغول به کار و برنامه‌ریزی ‌می‌شود.

مؤسسه‌ی پژوهشی کودکان دنیا سازمانی مستقل و غیر دولتی است که با هدف کمک به گسترش برنامه‌های مراقبت برای رشد و تکامل کودکان خردسال در ایران فعالیت خود را آغاز کرد. این گروه کوشید که آموزش کودکان خردسال را در ایران توسعه دهند و با ترویج و سازماندهی انواع مهد کودک در سراسر کشور اقدام کنند.

در سال ۱۳۷۰ فقط ۲ درصد از کودکان زیر ۶ سال در ایران به کودکستان راه پیدا می‌کردند. او با کمک همکارانش در ‌مؤسسه‌ی کودکان دنیا تلاش کرد تا آموزش پیش از دبستان را به عنوان یک حق، به ویژه برای کودکان محروم اعلام کند. این گروه تلاش کردند تا راه‌هایی را پیدا کنند تا برای گروه بزرگ‌تری از کودکان در حاشیه‌ی شهرها، روستاها و مناطق محروم کودکستان تأسیس کنند.

نمونه‌هایی چون طرح مربیان سیار در حاشیه‌ی شهر تهران، کمک به مهدهای کارگری، توسعه‌ی مهدهای روستایی و حمایت از شکل‌گیری مهدهای رایگان در حاشیه‌ی شهری‌های محروم ایران طی ۲۰ سال از کارهای او و همکارانش بود و هست.

تلاش‌های این گروه موجب شد که بعد از ۲۰ سال آمار ۲درصدی کودکانی که از برنامه‌های سازمان‌یافته‌ی آموزشی دست‌رسی داشتند به ۶۰ درصد برسد. این یکی از بزرگ‌ترین رخدادهای آموزشی در جامعه‌ی ایران بود.

سفرها و ارتباط‌های او به گوشه و کنار کشور موجب شد او با تنوعی از افسانه‌های ایرانی آشنا شود. افسانه‌هایی که از یک سو بخشی از پیشینه‌ی فرهنگی جامعه بودند و از سوی دیگر بخشی از آن‌ها تصویر خشونت‌بار موجود در جامعه را نشان می‌دادند. افسانه‌های پر از تبعیض جنسی، خشونت و جنگ. اما یوسفی تلاش کرد تا این افسانه‌ها را برای کودکان بازآفرینی کند و آن‌ها را در اختیار کودکان قرار دهد. در مجموع ۸ افسانه‌ی مطرح ایران را برای کودکان بازآفرینی کرد و سعی کرد چهره‌ی خشونت را در آن‌ها تغییر دهد. از همه مهم‌تر تلاش کرد افسانه‌هایی را بازآفرینی کند که شخصیت‌های اصلی آن‌ها دختران باشند.

بازآفرینی افسانه‌های ایرانی با موضوع فرهنگ صلح مورد توجه خانواده‌ها و کودکان قرار گرفت. برای مثال داستان ماه‌پیشانی بیش از ۲۰ سال است که هر سال در هزاران نسخه تجدید چاپ ‌می‌شود. اما گروهی از منتقدان به بازآفرینی این داستان‌ها با فضای صلح‌آمیز آن‌ها اعتراض کردند و معتقد بودند که او چهره‌ی ضرورت جنگ! و مبارزه‌ی تاریخی خیر و شر را در این داستان‌ها از بین برده است. اما یوسفی در یادداشت‌های خود بارها به این موضوع اشاره کرده است که آگاهانه کوشیده که با بازآفرینی، این داستان‌ها را تبدیل به ادبیات مناسب و خواندنی برای کودکان خردسال کند و به ترویج فرهنگ صلح بپردازد.

در همین دوره نیز با کمک گروهی از همکارانش در ‌مؤسسه‌ی پژوهشی کودکان دنیا مجموعه‌ی ۳۶۶ قصه را برای خواب کودکان آماده کرد. این قصه‌ها مجموعه‌‌ای از گنجینه‌ی ادبیات کودکان ایران و جهان بود که با موضوع فرهنگ صلح برای کودکان آماده‌سازی شد.

این مجموعه (که هر شب یک قصه‌ی مناسب را در اختیار خانواده‌ها قرار می‌دهد) کاملاً مبتنی بر مفاهیم فرهنگ صلح تنظیم شده است. داستان‌هایی بدون تبعیض جنسی، قومی یا مذهبی، احترام به فرهنگ گفت‌وگو، نفی خشونت و …

مجموعه‌ی قصه‌هایی برای خواب کودکان سال‌ها است که تجدید چاپ ‌می‌شود و بسیاری از کودکستان‌ها از آن‌ها به عنوان منبعی ارزشمند یاد ‌می‌کند.

در سال ۹۲ داستان «من سبز می‌شوم» از یوسفی منتشر ‌می‌شود که توجه گروه‌های مختلف را جلب کرد. داستان به نوعی ‌درباره‌ی محیط زیست و میراث فرهنگی است. مدت‌ها است که در جامعه‌ی ایران خانه‌های قدیمی با معماری خاص که در باغ‌ها و فضاهای سرسبز است خراب ‌می‌شوند و برای سودجویی تبدیل به برج‌های مختلف ‌می‌شوند. این خانه‌ها که هر کدام بخشی از میراث فرهنگی هستند به راحتی تخریب و درخت‌ها نیز قطع ‌می‌شوند.

داستان من سبز می‌شوم داستان کودکی است که به تخریب خانه و باغ خانه‌ی خود اعتراض ‌می‌کند. کودک در این داستان تبدیل به درخت ‌می‌شود و مانند یک پیچک دور تا دور خانه می‌پیچد.

این کتاب جوایزی گوناگونی را به خودش اختصاص داد.

یوسفی در سال ۱۳۸۵ به تجربه‌ی جدیدی دست می‌زند که در نوع خود راه‌گشای بسیاری از کارها و فعالیت‌های متنوع برای کودکان، نوجوانان و جامعه‌ی آموزشی پیرامون خود ‌می‌شود.

تجربه‌های متنوع یوسفی در کار با گروه‌های مختلف کودکان در گوشه و کار کشور، او را به ناکارآمد بودن سیستم آموزشی مدارس ایران می‌رساند. آموزش و پرورش ایران نزدیک به ۶ دهه است که فقط از یک الگوی آموزشی در مدارس خود استفاده ‌می‌کند. کشور بزرگ و پهناوری مانند ایران با تنوعی از اقلیم، اقوام و فرهنگ‌ها و گروه‌های مختلف انسانی روبه‌رو است. ساختار آموزش متمرکز ایران یک برنامه‌ی واحد را برای همه‌ی کودکان در نظر دارد. برنامه‌‌ای که به نیاز گروه‌های مختلف کودکان بی‌توجه است. برنامه‌‌ای از پیش‌تعیین‌شده و مبتنی بر سیستم رفتارگرایی، پاداش، جایزه، توبیخ و شاگرد اولی!

یوسفی به همراه همکارانش در ‌مؤسسه‌ی پژوهشی کودکان دنیا از سال ۱۳۸۵ به راه‌اندازی یک ‌مدرسه‌ی آلترناتیو اقدام ‌می‌کند. مدرسه‌‌ای که برنامه‌های مبتنی بر مشارکت دانش‌آموزان، خانواده، معلم و جامعه‌ی محلی است.

این مدرسه بر پایه‌ی رویکرد «روان‌شناسی انسان‌گرا» فعالیت خود را آغاز ‌می‌کند. ساختاری بدون نمره و امتیاز، بدون رقابت و مسابقه و مبتنی بر نیازهای کودکان و با هدف کمک به دانش‌آموزان برای رسیدن به حداکثر استعدادها و توانایی‌های خود.

در ‌مدرسه‌ی کودکان دنیا کتاب‌های درسی از پیش‌تعیین‌شده برچیده ‌می‌شود و کودکان این فرصت را پیدا ‌می‌کنند که از راه گنجینه‌ی ادبیات ایران و جهان، آموزش ببینند. همه‌ی کتاب‌های ناب ادبیات کودکان، منبع آموزش دانش‌آموزان در رشته‌های هنر، تاریخ، جغرافی، علوم اجتماعی، علوم محض و حتی ریاضی ‌می‌شود.

این مدرسه خود را از چهاردیواری به عنوان کلاس رها ‌می‌کند و کل شهر را تبدیل به مدرسه می‌سازد. دانش‌آموزان در فرصت‌های متنوع در سطح شهر به بازدیدهای مختلف می‌روند، سفر ‌می‌کنند، با افراد مؤثر دیدار ‌می‌کنند و پروژه‌های فردی و جمعی را اجرا ‌می‌کنند.

این مدرسه در سال ۱۳۸۵ با ۱۲ دانش‌آموز فعالیت خود را آغاز کرد و پس از پانزده سال تعداد دانش‌آموزان در سال ۱۳۹۸ به ۲۵۰ نفر رسیده است.

بیش از ۱۵ سال است که این مدرسه بدون حمایت‌های رسمیِ دولتی فعالیت خود را ادامه می‌دهد و تا کنون سه گروه از دانش‌آموزان پس از ۱۲ سال فارغ‌التحصیل شده‌اند.

‌مدرسه‌ی آلترناتیو کودکان دنیا پس از ۱۵ سال هنوز از سوی آموزش و پرورش ایران به رسمیت شناخته نشده است و دانش‌آموزان این مدرسه نمی‌توانند مدارک رسمی را دریافت کنند، اما با همه‌ی این‌ها خانواده‌های بسیاری جسارت ‌می‌کنند و برای قرار گرفتن در محیطی بالنده، آزاد و مبتنی بر نیازهای کودکان از ساختار رسمی فاصله گرفته‌اند و چنین فضایی را انتخاب ‌می‌کنند.

‌مدرسه‌ی کودکان دنیا منبعی پر از الهام و ایده، برای بسیاری از مهدهای کودک، آموزش‌گاه‌ها و حتی مدارس رسمی در سراسر کشور است. این کودکستان‌ها و مدارس و حتی آموزش‌گاه‌ها می‌کوشند که ایده‌های این مرکز آموزشی را به شکل‌های گوناگون در برنامه‌های رسمی خود جا دهند و از تجربه‌ها و ایده‌های آن استفاده کنند.

در سال ۹۵ نیز داستان بلند "و باز هم سفر" برای نوجوانان را منتشر ‌می‌کند. داستان «و باز هم سفر» داستان سه نوجوان است که طبق رسوم جامعه‌ی خود می‌بایست در یک دوره‌ی سنی به سفر بروند. سه نوجوان هم‌زمان به طور جداگانه راهی سفر ‌می‌شوند و هر کدام یک شیوه‌ی سفر را تجربه ‌می‌کنند.

کتاب «و باز هم سفر» در طی سه سال پنج نوبت تجدید چاپ ‌می‌شود. با توجه به بالا بردن هزینه‌های چاپ کتاب در ایران، اسکن شدن و استفاده‌های غیر قانونی و … استقبال از این کتاب بسیار گسترده است و تبدیل به امر نادری ‌می‌شود.

این کتاب در سال ۹۶ از سوی انجمن ناشران کتاب کودک و نوجوان ایران به عنوان یکی از کتاب‌های برتر ادبیات نوجوانان شناخته ‌می‌شود.

مجموعه‌ی داستان‌های یوسفی در ۳۰ سال گذشته نشان ‌می‌دهد که موضوع صلح و فرهنگ صلح آن هم در جامعه‌ی ایران مهم‌ترین دل‌مشغولی اوست. او به موضوع‌هایی در داستان‌های کودکان و نوجوانان ‌می‌پردازد که تقریباً نمونه‌ی آن در ادبیات کودک و نوجوان ایران نیست. موضوع‌هایی چون مهاجران، اقلیت‌های مذهبی، یهودی‌هراسی، سالمندان، میراث فرهنگی، محیط زیست و از همه مهم‌تر رفع تبعیض جنسی از زنان.

بخش مهمی از شخصیت‌های یوسفی دختر هستند. دخترانی که مستقلند، فکر ‌می‌کنند، اقدام ‌می‌کنند و در مرکز کار و فعالیت هستند.

Nasser Yousefi was born in 1967 in Tehran. He spent his childhood in a quiet

family full of love, joy, and care. He was the third of four children who spent days

full of new experiences with their parents. Since his childhood, his interest in art

and literature was obvious. His father who was working on a project for equipping

municipality library borrowed plenty of children's and teen books every week, and

he had the opportunity to read them. Then, he became a member of Institute for the

Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) 1 Library,

spending most of his life in libraries exploring worlds of myths, tales and stories.

Those days, reading stories gave him the ability to trust books and fill his days

with them; a skill that saved him at teen age 2 .

The year 1978 coincided with the Iranian Revolution. Nasser was eleven years old

at that time. The incidents happened during the revolution and the political

confrontations made his generation grow up in a short time. It was as if they were

thrown into a new unknown world. The excitement of this period created

obsessions not much suitable for an 11-year-old child 3 .

Since that year, everything around him changed. A child who used to spend time

with mermaids, princes and knights, now had to read and think about all kinds of

revolutions, liberation armies, anti-colonial activities, imperialism, guerrilla

warfare, and so on. All those romance, fairy tales, and fantasy, filled with joy and

hope, gave way to stories of wars and hostile activities. The turbulent atmosphere

of this era did not allow for romantic and peaceful fantasies. Nasser's adolescence

was spent on such days. Political movements were so active in the schools that no

student could prevent being involved in such an atmosphere.

1 IIDCYA was a major development project in Iranian society beginning in 1966. The project

involved building and equipping libraries for children and adolescents in different cities and

neighborhoods. These Libraries enjoyed the best standards of the time and provided

opportunities for children and adolescents to promote reading.

2 صلح را از کودکی باید آموخت

3 از جنس رویا، گفتگو با ناصر یوسفی

In the year 1981, just two years after the Iranian Revolution, Iran-Iraq war began

and Nasser’s teen days was deeply affected by another difficult situation. Now the

atmosphere of revolution and war left no room for teenage experiences.

Yousefi points out in an interview: instead of going through friendly relationships,

my teen age was filled with worries about people’s difficult situations in Africa,

Algeria, Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli war, and so on 4 .

Like many people of his generations, he became so involved in political

movements that he was sentenced to prison at the age of 14 and spent some time in

a special detention center for teen activists. After being released from the center, he

experienced terrifying days as a 14-year-old boy and went to the edge of

depression. War, political pressures, young people fleeing the borders of the

country (to stay away from the war), the wave of seeking asylum, the widespread

presence of youth and even teenagers on the battlefields, captivity in Iraq and

another group of youth in prison and being executed, made days harder for the

teenager.

In an interview, Yousefi says: “It was literature that helped me survive those

dreadful days. I took refuge in literature again and began reading as I once did in

my childhood. I read frantically. Between the ages of 14 to 16, I read most of the

classic stories from great writers such as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Victor Hugo, Emil

Zola, Faulkner, Mark Twain, Dostoyevsky, and so on. Months passed and I did not

get out of the house, just read novels.” 5

Literature and novels reconnected him to life. Those classic novels were filled with

humanism and peace, supporting true life. Through these novels, he learned about

the value of life, while in the world around him, things were going on differently.

Nasser was still in his teens when he turned to the literature of peace and tried to

read examples of children's literature that promoted peace, from “The Child, the

Soldier and the Sea” to Anna Frank's Diary. He found many cases in children’s

literature advocating the foundations of peace, saying that children should live in

peace and understanding. Nasser became a peace defender and an antiwar activist

4 گفتگو با ناصر یوسفی ، صلح را از کودکی باید آموخت

5 Same

at teen age, after passing through the terrible experiences of war and political

turmoil. Dealing with peace in a war-torn country was not an easy job, and could

be considered as a kind of anti-government political activity for him again.

At the age of 15, Nasser started writing poems and stories, and his works were

widely published in children's and teen journals. At the age of 16, he was selected

by IIDCYA as a teenage poet from Tehran to attend the first meeting of teenage

poets from across the country. There he recited his poems on peace again. Then,

this teen enthusiast of literature started publishing material for children and

adolescents. It seemed he was determined to work for children.

In high school, in addition to attending classes in the morning, he enrolled in

afternoon courses of School of Art and Literature (a training center for

extracurricular activities) and began working on storytelling and poetry. Although

the pressure of working and studying at two schools was demanding for him, his

enthusiasm for writing and other artistic and literary activities compensated for

exhaustion of doing boring school activities. He has mentioned in an article: I

never liked school. Since I was at primary school, classes were boring places. I was

full new ideas and those classes never met my needs 6 .

These tedious and boring lessons in high school made classes painful for him. In

the post-revolutionary era and the pressures of war and political disputes made

classes an overbearing environment for him. This closed atmosphere made him

write more. He spent hours in school writing poems, painting or writing or reading

stories. Nasser's familiarity with peaceful activities led him to become acquainted

with activities of UNESCO and UNICEF in his teens. He was 16 when he wrote a

letter to UNICEF Iran, announcing his willingness to volunteer for it. This way he

was invited to UNICEF, where he sold UNICEF cards and gifts at schools and

other places and donated all the earnings to UNICEF. This made him more familiar

with international trends and freed him from the closed atmosphere of his society.

While still a teenager, he joined Children's Book Council, representative of the

International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and since then he started

learning from masters and experts at the Children's Book Council. For many years,

6 از جنس رویا

he worked on various issues at Children's Book Council and was involved in

different projects.

After high school, Nasser entered University of Tehran's School of Psychology and

learned from professors who were students of Jean Piaget. His passion and love for

children gave him awareness and insight at the university. At this stage he tried to

pursue working for children consciously. He was in the second year of university

when the ceasefire between Iran and Iraq was declared. In other words, all his teen

and part of his youth was spent in war time. He could now see a good promise for a

peaceful world. Ending the war was an inaccessible dream, now Nasser witnessing

its coming true.

He tried to share this peaceful world with children. But for some reasons, fractions

in the government insisted on maintaining the atmosphere of war. There were still

groups that opposing ceasefire and peace, and defended war. Therefore, talking of

peace in public was still a sensitive and problematic issue.

He entered Kayhan Bacheha Children’s Magazine in 1986 when he was at the

university and worked on various stories for children. Kayhan Bacheha was one of

the few weekly children's magazines published those years and had many readers.

His stories were mostly published in the young kids section. At Kayhan Bacheha

he continued trying to share an atmosphere of peace and friendship with his

readers. While most of the writers and poets were obsessed by the subject of war,

Nasser sought to talk about friendship, forgiveness, reconciliation, kindness, and

affection in his woks.

In 1988, at the age of 21, his first novel, "The World’s Kindest Horse," was

published. The story was about a pony who tried to help animals around him, share

his possessions with others, and promote kindness. In the hectic atmosphere of

war, filled with anger and violence, the story raised different reactions. Some

believed that the mood of the story was not reflecting the society and that Yousefi

was providing children with unrealistic views. Despite those objections, the story

was well received by children and it has been reprinted nearly twenty times since

then. In the same year, the book was honored at IIDCYA Festival.

Despite all the objections from the official atmosphere to Yousefi's works, he

continued to write stories based on peace and friendship. In 1989 another story was

published by him: "What made the spring came?" It is the story of a tree that

waking up in spring, it realizes its branches are burned and it is not in the same

side street it had grown. The tree thought that when it was asleep in winter people

of the neighborhood took it out from the earth, moved it to another place and

burned its branches. The tree was annoyed with the people and decides not to go

green again. But a bird comes up and tells it that while it was asleep, the street was

bombed. All houses were destroyed and trees were cut off. When tree realized

what has happened to the people and how war had destroyed everything, it decided

to go green and brings the spring back to the street.

The story of “What made the spring came?” was an antiwar story. An antiwar story

published in the time of war. No official organization paid attention to this story,

the book was not allowed to enter schools, and was never reprinted. But these did

not stop Nasser from writing more stories about peace. Any way possible, he

developed stories related to the concept of friendship and peace.

The story of "Tuk, The Little Fox" is the tale of a fox who decides not to hunt

anymore and make friends with other animals. The story became one of the most

popular children's stories and was repeatedly performed in children's radio

programs and as a radio drama.

Another anti-war story is “A City Void of Memories.” The story is about a kid

whose family is war-torn and because of the war has lived in another city for years.

When the war ends, the family decides to go back to their hometown, but the child

has no memories of that city, since all of his memories are from the city where he

grew up. The conflict between the child and his family is the theme of the story. In

1995, UNESCO Iran nominated “A City Void of Memories” story for peace

literature for children and teens. During all these years, almost every year a story

has been published by Nasser Yousefi. Every one of these stories is related to the

concepts of peace, friendship and reconciliation.

In 1991, he started a new activity. Along with a group of his friends and

colleagues, he set up Children of the World Research Institute and worked at this

NGO as a manager. Children of the World Research Institute is an independent,

non-governmental organization that started its work with the aim of helping to

develop care programs for the development of young children in Iran. The group

sought to expand education of young children in Iran through promoting and

organizing different kinds of kindergartens throughout the country.

In 1991, only two percent of children under the age of six could attend

kindergartens in Iran. With the help of his colleagues at Children of the World

Institute, he sought to promote preschool education as a right, especially for

deprived children. The group sought to find ways to establish kindergartens for a

larger group of children living on the outskirts of cities, villages, and deprived

areas.

Examples of their activities include projects of sending traveling trainers to the

outskirts of Tehran, promotion of labor daycares, development of rural daycares,

and supporting establishment of free daycares on the outskirts of deprived Iranian

towns during the last 20 years. Number of children having access to educational

programs in Iran was 2 percent. After 20 years, the group's efforts helped this

number reach 60 percent that was one of the biggest educational achievements in

Iranian society.

Since 1998, Yousefi has worked as a consultant for UNICEF in Iran and has

implemented many ideas for children with UNICEF support, from working with

Afghan and Iraqi immigrant children to working with boarding school children.

Providing many resources for low literate mothers, supporting safe motherhood

programs for pregnant mothers, paying attention to thorough care for children

under the age of two, working for children with special needs, and working for

children of ethnic and religious minorities, were among his activities for different

groups of children. This wide range of activities enabled him to meet a variety of

children and their needs. Perhaps few writers can be found with such direct, face to

face, and constant work with different groups of children around his country. This

direct contact affected his stories more than anything else and enabled him to

understand true desires and needs of children and to reflect them in his stories.

Nevertheless, Yousefi still sought to depict peace and friendship in his stories.

His travels and relations around the country made him familiar with a variety of

Iranian legends. Those legends, on the one hand, were part of the cultural

background of the society and on the other, reflecting the violence in the society.

Legends contained much sexism, violence and warfare. However, Yousefi tried to

recreate them in a way suitable for children and then presented them to the

children. In all, he recreated eight prominent Iranian legends for children trying to

eliminate aspects such as violence in them. Most importantly, he tried to recreate

those legends whose main characters were girls.

Recreation of Iranian legends concerning peace was warmly welcomed by families

and children. For example, in 20 years the story of Mahpishooni 7 was reprinted in

thousands of copies every year. However, a group of critics opposed the recreation

of these stories reflecting peaceful atmosphere, believing that Yousefi has ignored

the necessity of war (!?) and the historical struggle between good and evil in these

stories. However, in his articles, Yousefi has repeatedly pointed out that he has

consciously tried to recreate these stories to make literature suitable for young

children and to promote culture of peace 8 .

In the same period, with the help of a team of colleagues at Children of the World

Research Institute, he prepared a collection of 366 bedtime stories for children 9 .

These stories were a collection of Iranian and international children's literary

treasury aiming to introduce issue of peace to kids. The collection (which provides

families with a good story every night) is fully based on the concepts of peace

culture. Stories without discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity or religion,

respect for the culture of dialogue, rejection of violence, and so on. The collection

of bedtime stories has been reprinted for many years, and many preschools used

them as an invaluable resource for kids.

The first decade of the 21 st century was called the decade of global culture of peace

and repression of violence, and Yousefi and his colleagues at Children of the

World Institute tried to promote the concepts of peace culture further. Translating

and localizing “Living Value” books, holding dozens of peace workshops,

collecting violence-promoting toys, and so on were some of their activities in this

regard. Their efforts made Children of the World Institute nominated for peace

education international award by UNICEF, Iran twice in 2016 and 2018.

The reason for this selection was that the issue of peace was still a sensitive

political issue in Iranian society. There were various political groups in Iran

7 "ماه پیشانی ، بازافرنی ناصر یوسفی" Ofoq Publication, Tehran.

8 از جنس رویا – گفتگو با ناصر یوسفی

9 "قصه های خواب کودکان" Peydayesh Publication, Tehran.

believing the culture of war had to be maintained and promoted. Yousefi and his

colleagues’ activities brought peace out of the taboo list in Iranian culture. During

all these years, Yousefi’s stories have continued to promote culture of peace.

In 2013, “I’m going Green” story was published by Yousefi, and attracted attention

of various groups. The story is about the environment and cultural heritage. It is for

quite a long time that in Iran, old houses with spectacular architectures and

beautiful gardens have been demolished and turned into towers just for profit.

Every one of these houses which are part of Iranian cultural heritage, are easily

destroyed and trees are cut down. “I’m going Green” is the story of a child who

protests the demolition of his home and garden. In this story, the child becomes a

tree and twists around the house like an ivy. This book received various awards.

Yousefi also wrote a love story for teens, the story of a Jewish boy who falls in

love with a Muslim girl. This story was not allowed to be published. But after six

years of continuous follow-up and the opening up of Iranian society, the book was

finally published 10 . The story “The Sky was Purple” was another peaceful picture

of Iranian society that showed different religious groups can live together in peace.

In 2006, Yousefi began a new experience that opened the door for different kinds

of activities for Iranian children, adolescents and the educational community

around him. Yousefi's diverse experiences working with different groups of

children around the country made him realize the inefficiency of Iranian

educational system that had been following a single educational model at schools

for about six decades. Iran is a large and vast country consisting of a variety of

climates, ethnicities, cultures and groups, but its centralized education system has a

single curriculum for all children. The program ignores the needs of different

groups of children. A predetermined program based on a system of behaviorism,

rewards, punishments, and selecting top students!

In 2006,Yousefi and his colleagues at Children of the World Research Institute

launched an alternative school; a school whose programs were determined through

cooperation of students, parents, teachers and community. The school was based

on a humanistic approach to psychology. A system with no marks and points or

10 “آسمان ارغوانی بود” Markaz publication, Tehran.

competition, and based on the needs of the children, aiming at helping students

reach their full potential.

At Children of the World school, there are no predetermined textbooks and

children are given the opportunity to learn through Iranian and World literature.

Invaluable children's literature books are used as source books for students in the

fields of art, history, geography, social sciences, pure sciences and even

mathematics. The school goes beyond the walls of classrooms and transforms the

entire city into a school. Throughout the city, students visit places, travel, meet

influential people and carry out individual and community projects at every

occasion.

This school started its activities with 12 students in 2006 and after 15 years the

number of students has reached 250 in 2019. The school has been operating

without official government support for more than 15 years and so far three groups

of students have graduated after 12 years of studying there. Still, after 15 years,

this alternative school has not yet been recognized by Iran's education ministry and

students cannot receive official certificates. Nevertheless, many families have

ventured to move away from the formal system, to be in a nurturing, free and

child-friendly environment.

Children of the World School, is a source of new ideas and inspiration for many

kindergartens, schools and even public schools around the country. These

educational centers try to incorporate the ideas of this school into their formal

programs and to follow their experiences and ideas.

Yousefi's direct work and day-to-day contact with hundreds of children and

adolescents created another opportunity for him to hear children's voices and pay

attention to their ideas and needs in his stories. In 2010s, Yousefi published stories

that are widely welcomed by his readers.

In the year 2014, he publishes the story of "Shekar Khanoom Neighborhood" is

published by him. Copies of this book are fully sold out in one season and

reprinted in the next season. Shekar Khanoom Neighborhood is the story of an

elderly woman who becomes the center of communication and interaction between

families in her neighborhood. She is a woman who defends the status of family,

respects children's rights, takes refuge to immigrants and is an advocate for the

environment and animals. In other words, Shekar Khanoom tries to develop a

culture of peace in her local community. Shekar Khanoom character soon becomes

a popular family favorite. After a while even the name Shekar Khanoom becomes

a term to introduce characters popular with grandfathers and grandmothers.

In 2016, he also publishes the novel "And Travel Again" 11 for teens. It is the story

of three teenagers who had to travel at a certain age based on their traditions. These

teens start their individual travel at the same time but each experience a different

way of travel. “And Travel Again” is widely recognized and reprinted five times in

a three-year period which is a rare incident in Iran considering the rising cost of

printing books, illegal scanning and use, etc. This book was recognized as one of

the premier books in adolescent literature by the Iranian Association of Children

and Young Adult Book Publishers in 2017.

In 2019, another new book by Yousefi, "Taste of the Yellow Apple," received

much acclaim and was reprinted in less than a season. It is the story of a secret

relationship a teenager makes with his immigrant classmate. Afghan immigrants

have lived in Iranian society for more than 30 years, but the relationship between

the two cultural communities is not yet a close one. This teenage boy hides his

friendship with the immigrant teenager to prevent being judged by others. A

relationship forms between them that bring about damage after being revealed.

Taste of the Yellow Apple is one of the few stories in Iranian adolescent literature

that talks about making friends with Afghan immigrants.

Yousefi's collection of stories over the past 30 years shows that the issue of peace

is his major concern regarding Iranian society. In his stories for children and

adolescents, he writes about topics seldom found in Iranian children’s and

adolescent literature; issues such as immigrants, religious minorities, Jewish

phobia, the elderly, cultural heritage, the environment and most importantly,

elimination of sex discrimination against women.

Many characters in Yousefi's stories are girls. Girls who are independent, and

think, act, and work actively in the society. While governmental organizations in

Iran support some groups of writers to write stories about the war and publish their

11 "و باز هم سفر" Ofoq Publication, Tehran.

works in large numbers, in the past 30 years, Yousefi has not entered any of these

groups, and continued writing about peace.

In the winter of 2019, Nasser Yousefi held a two-month training course entitled

Road to Peace. More than 300 teachers, educators and parents attended the course

and learned about principles and foundations of peace for children in eight weekly

sessions. The Road to Peace training course was a significant event to expand

peace programs for children.

Peace, coexistence and cooperation are important issues Iranian community

desperately needs. While governmental institutions neglect such issues, for more

than 30 years, Yousefi, as a freelance writer, has been striving to be a messenger of

peace and to encourage children and teenagers to lead a peaceful life.