Bahman Nirumand was born in Tehran in 1936. He studied German, philosophy and Iranian studies in Munich, Tübingen and Berlin. In 1960 he received his doctorate on Brecht. After completing his studies, he returned to Iran and worked there as a lecturer in comparative literature at the University of Tehran. He also worked as a writer and journalist. He fled in 1965 because he came into conflict with the Shah's regime then in power in Iran. His book was published in January 1967 Persia, Model of a Developing Country or The Dictatorship of the Free World, which had a major impact on the German and international student movement of the 1960s. Shortly before the fall of the Shah and the Islamic Revolution, he returned to Iran, but after a three-year stay he had to go into exile again, first to Paris and then to Berlin.

Bahman Nirumand is the author of numerous books, articles, radio and television programs. He has also translated some literary works from Persian into German, including works by Mahmud Doulatabadi, Sadegh Hedayat, Gholamhossein Saedi, Samad Behrangi and Ahmad Shamlu.