Niloufar Talebi
Photo by 27xIIIa
Bio
Niloufar Talebi is an author, translator, creator, and producer. She is the editor and translator of Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, 2008), and author of the hybrid memoir, Self-Portrait in Bloom (l’Aleph, 2019). Her multimedia projects include ICARUS/RISE (Artaud Theatre, 2007), The Persian Rite of Spring (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2010), Fire Angels (Carnegie Hall, 2011), The Plentiful Peach (Stanford Live, 2015), Epiphany (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2015), and The Investment (The Kennedy Center, 2015). Elegies of the Earth is part of a suite of projects on the Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou that includes Abraham in Flames opera (composer A. Vrebalov, 2019), Funeral Address video-poem, and a TEDx Berkeley Talk. Talebi was a 2021-2022 Fulbright U.S. Scholar.
Project Description
To support the translation from the Persian of the poetry selection Elegies of the Earth by Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou. Shamlou (1925-2000), also known by his pen name Alef Bamdad, was a poet, writer, translator, encyclopedist, journalist, editor, and human rights activist. He was one of the most influential Iranian literary voices of the 20th century, with more than 70 published books. Born into a military family, his childhood was marred by witnessing a bloody lashing of a soldier at the age of five. He never completed high school, but discovered writing and became politically active, which led to arrests and detentions during his lifetime. Elegies of the Earth will be a Shamlou reader containing approximately 80 poems spanning his career, a biographical introduction, and excerpts from his essays, interviews, and letters to contextualize the selection of poems.
Translating from the Persian (AKA Farsi) is a double feat of activism: one is bridging a language and culture over to another, and the other is doing so without substantial support structures dedicated to its literature. This National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship marks a milestone in my journey to bring the poetic gifts of Ahmad Shamlou to a wider audience with Elegies of the Earth. Shamlou, while influential in Iranian culture, remains relatively unexplored in the West. This is due, in part, to the richness of his linguistic innovations and the depth of his cultural legacy. Shamlou’s genius was in synthesizing the literary traditions of the world to foment a literary revolution, and so his work belongs to the world.
My connection to Shamlou's work is deeply personal, as he was a prominent figure at my parents’ literary salons in Tehran during the turbulent period following the 1979 Iranian revolution. These formative experiences indelibly shaped my approach to the creative life, literature, and translation. Shamlou’s poetic imagery and expansive metaphors have been a significant source of inspiration in several of my creative endeavors, including the conceptualization and realization of the opera Abraham in Flames.
I am grateful for this NEA Translation Fellowship, which not only supports my ongoing work on Elegies of the Earth, but also spotlights Shamlou's significant contributions to Persian literature. I am thrilled to be bringing Shamlou's poetic vision to new audiences and ensuring that his legacy resonates far beyond the borders of Iran.
About Ahmad Shamlou
Poet, translator, and editor Ahmad Shamlou (December 12, 1925 – July 23, 2000) was one of the most influential cultural figures of Iran and the author of over 70 books including 17 volumes of poetry. Shamlou, also known by his pen name Alef Bamdad, was born into a military family, and his childhood was marred by witnessing a bloody lashing of a soldier at the age of five. He never completed high school, but discovered writing and became politically active, which led to arrests and detentions during his lifetime.
Shamlou masterminded a new poetics for Iran by introducing innovations in language, form, and content, and became the flag-bearer of the Iranian vanguard, which included the poet Forough Farrokhzad. He helped cement the transition from classical forms to free verse.
Championing the “everyman,” Shamlou’s work reflects his deep engagement with the human condition and social issues. Shamlou synthesized the east and the west, and the high and the low, to democratize his literary mode without simplifying it.