Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی, Borned c. 940 and died in 1020 (aged 79–80) in Tus (Toos), Khorasan province, Iran during Ghaznavid Empire. 

Ferdowsi was a Persian poet and the author of Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poems created by a single poet, and the national epic of Greater Iran. He is celebrated as the most influential figure in Persian literature and one of the greatest in the history of literature.

The poet had a wife, who was perhaps literate and came from the same landlord class. He had a son, who died at the age of 37, and was mourned by the poet which to some extend is reflected in the Shahnameh.

The Islamic conquests of the 7th century brought gradual linguistic and cultural changes to the Iranian Plateau. He began work on the Shahnameh around 977, intending it as a continuation of the work of his fellow poet Daqiqi, who had been assassinated by a slave.

Ferdowsi completed the first version of the Shahnameh in 994 and finally completed his epic on March 8th, 1010.  Ferdowsi was buried in Tus, Iran.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdowsi