Mirza Fatali Akhundov

Mirza Fatali Akhundov, also known as Mirza Fatali Akhundzade or Mirza Fath-Ali Akhundzadeh, was a celebrated Iranian Azerbaijani author, playwright, ultra-nationalist, philosopher, and founder of Azerbaijani modern literary criticism, "who acquired fame primarily as the writer of European-inspired plays in the Azeri Turkic language". Akhundzade singlehandedly opened a new stage of development of Azerbaijani literature. He was also the founder of materialism and atheism movement in the Republic of Azerbaijan and one of forerunners of modern Iranian nationalism. He wrote in Azerbaijani, Persian and Russian.