Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World

(Paperback)

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Description

Never-before-introduced contemporary Iranian poets are featured in an eclectic and accessible anthology. This work not only introduces the readers to Iranian poets today, but also expands the canon of writing in the Persian language. It brings us the spirit of the Iranian of the 21st Century, citizen of the world. Different from the traditional, non-fiction literature previously published by Iranian writers, the poetry in this anthology varies drastically in style and theme and proves to be relevant to modern world culture. It includes erotic poetry by Ziba Karbassi, formal poetry by Yadollah Royaii, experimental poetry by Naanaam, protest poetry by Maryam Huleh, and personal epic by Shahrouz Rashid.

Reviews

Niloufar Talebis accomplishment in gathering the poetry of the Iranian diaspora is unprecedented and breathtaking. It is as if she has, by force of commitment and vision, and by way of cultural hunger, bequeathed a new literary heritage to Iran and the world. Here is a lyric symphony of utterance in the voices of exiles, immigrants, refugees, and expatriates. That Talebi assembled such an extraordinary collection is impressive enoughthat she translated most of these poems herself is nothing short of remarkable.
Carolyn Forch, editor of Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness

In Belonging, with literary skill and passion, Niloufar Talebi has made a major contribution to the recognition of contemporary Iranian literature in the West, to the appreciation of diaspora poetry by Persian speakers everywhere, and to the important project of producing good translations from rich but underrepresented literary canons for the anglophone reader.
Nahid Mozaffari, editor of the PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature

Poetry is a world art because of brilliant editors and translators like Niloufar Talebi ... Here are the poets, in all their power, defiance, dignity, wildness, and lyric grace, scattered across the earth, yet united in this book. Here is proof that poetry humanizes: now contemporary Persian culture has a face, and the Persian tongue a voice, for those of us in the English-speaking world, and we are all richer for it.
Martn Espada, Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of The Republic of Poetry

After reading her introduction and the first few sections of Belonging, I realized that Talebi had accomplished perhaps the greatest service that a translator of Iranian poetry for American audiences can provide: she made the Iranian poetic landscape feel familiar. Not only familiar, but modern, full of laughter, rich with wonder, completely joyful and terrible and worthy of revisiting multiple times."
Peter Conners, Three Percent

Niloufar Talebi has accomplished the ultimate magic trick in her clean and modern translation. She has made the work of modern Persian poets read like original English ... an unparalled contribution.
Willis Barnstone, author of With Borges on an Ordinary Evening in Buenos Aires

The poems speak of lost places and missing people; of the fear and freedom that come with new surroundings; of love, sex, and passion; of prison and protest; of the commonplace and the universal; and of subjects classical, political, and taboo In form and imagery these poems often allude to works of Persian classical literature, but they are also the heirs of Rimbaud, Lorca, Dante, Shakespeare, and the literatures of adopted countries Talebis translation process included thorough review and collaboration with the poets themselves While one can always find phrases with which to quibble, the translations are of consistently high quality not only do the poems work in English, but they adhere closely to the originals in tone, content, and format.
Harvard Review Online Journal

If you will trust me though, and don't want to read my justification, you can know that this is simply one of those books you need to have on your shelves, one you can look for and find at a party, and hand to one of your closer American friends and smilingly say, Here Bradley, this will explain everything!
Iranian.com

"This collection is impressive by making a good sample of contemporary Iranian poets in the diaspora so beautifully accessible to English readers and by presenting them so deservingly as a part of world literature today."
World Literature Today Magazine

Author Bio

Award-winning translator Niloufar Talebi was born in London to Iranian parents. She was educated in Iran, Europe and the United States. She currently lives in San Francisco, where she founded The Translation Project (www.thetranslationproject.org), whose mission is to bring contemporary Iranian literature to worldwide audiences in multiple languages and media. Her work is published, among other places, in Rattapallax, Two Lines, Circumference, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and Poetry International. Zack Rogow was a co-winner of the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Award for Earthlight by Andre Breton, and winner of a Bay Area Book Reviewers Award (BABRA) for his translation of George Sand's novel, Horace. His English version of Colette's novel Green Wheat was published in 2004 by Sarabande Books and nominated for the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Award and for the Northern California Book Award in translation. Rogow's translation and adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's play Marius was produced by the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley in 2005. From 2005 to 2007 he served as editor and artistic director of World Writing in Translation, an internationally acclaimed annual of global literature.