Sholeh Wolpé
Sholeh Wolpé () is an American poet, playwright, and literary translator. She was born in Iran, and lived in Trinidad and England during her teenage years, before settling in the United States. Biography. Sholeh Wolpé was born in Tehran, Iran, and spent most of her teen years in Trinidad and the United Kingdom before settling in the United States. She attended George Washington University and received a B.A. degree in Radio/TV/Film. Followed by studies at Northwestern University and received a M.A. degree in Radio/TV/Film and Johns Hopkins University and received a MHS in Public Health . The Poetry Foundation has written that “Wolpé’s concise, unflinching, and often wry free verse explores violence, culture, and gender. So many of Wolpé’s poems deal with the violent situation in the Middle East, yet she is ready to both bravely and playfully refuse to let death be too proud.” Wolpe's literary translations have garnered several prestigious awards. Wolpé was named a 2020–2021 "Cultural Trailblazer" by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. She is a Writer-In-Residence at University of California, Irvine, and lives in Los Angeles and Barcelona. She is married to sociologist  Edward Telles. Literary career. A recipient of 2014 PEN Heim Translation Fund grant, 2014 Hedgebrook Residency, the 2013 Midwest Book Award, and 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize, Wolpé literary work includes five collections of poetry, four books of translations, three anthologies and several plays. Her play "The Conference of the Birds" (world premiere Ubuntu Theater, November 30, 2018) is an adaptation of 12th Century Sufi mystic Attar's epic poem. Wolpé’s first collection, "The Scar Saloon", was lauded by Billy Collins as “poems that cast a light on some of what we all hold in common.” Poet and  novelist Chris Abani called the poems "political, satirical, and unflinching in the face of war, tyranny and loss ... they transmute experience into the magic of the imagined." The poems in Wolpé’s second collection, "Rooftops of Tehran", were called by poet Nathalie Handal “as vibrant as they are brave,” and Richard Katrovas wrote that its publication was a “truly rare event: an important book of poetry.” Wolpé’s translations of the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad’s selected work, "Sin", was awarded the Lois Roth Persian Translation Award in 2010. The judges wrote that they “found themselves experiencing Forugh’s Persian  poems with new eyes.” Alicia Ostriker praised the translations as “hypnotic in their beauty and force.” Willis Barnstone found them “extravagantly majestic,” and of such order that “they resurrect Forugh.” Sholeh Wolpé and Mohsen Emadi’s translations of Walt Whitman’s "Song of Myself" (آواز خويشتن) were commissioned by the University of Iowa’s International Program. They are currently on University of Iowa’s Whitman website and will be available in print in Iran. Robert Olen Butler lauded Wolpé's anthology, "Breaking the Jaws of Silence" as “a deeply humane and aesthetically exhilarating collection.” Wolpé's 2012 anthology, "The Forbidden : Poems from Iran and Its Exiles", a recipient of the 2013 Midwest Book Award, includes many of Wolpé’s own translations, and was called by American poet Sam Hamil a “most welcome gift” that “embraces and illuminates our deepest human bonds and hopes.” Wolpé’s Iran Edition of the Atlanta Review became that journal’s best-selling issue. Wolpé is also a regional editor of "Tablet and Pen: Literary Landscapes from The Modern Middle East" (edited by Reza Aslan), and a contributing editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Wolpé’s modern translation of "The Conference of the Birds  by the 12th Century Iranian Sufi mystic poet Attar", was lauded by PEN lauded as an “artful and exquisite modern translation.” About the book, W.W. Norton & Co writes: "Wolpé re-creates the intense beauty of the original Persian in contemporary English verse and poetic prose, fully capturing for the first time the beauty and timeless wisdom of Attar’s masterpiece for modern readers." In 2019 Wolpé began a collaboration with composer Fahad Siadat and choreographer Andre Megerdichian which culminated in The Conference of the Birds- An Oratorio. the work garnered support form the National Endowment for the Arts, Farhang Foundation , Scripps College, among others. Abacus of Loss - A Memoir in Verse is Wolpé's 2022 genre re-defining book in which Wolpé combines several genres (memoir, poetry, and reportage) to shape and deliver her story in a philsophically pantheistic format. It does not follow the arrow of time and explores the grey areas in her (and our) inner and outer world. The outer, is her story, the inner draws us in and becomes our story too. "Though she’s tallying her—and our—collective losses (personally, culturally, and globally), Wolpé also expresses deep thankfulness for what we still have left ." Wolpe's poems and translations have been set to music by composers Hubba De Graaf, Fahad Siadat, Shawn Crouch, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Sahba Aminikia and Mamak Khadem, and Sahba Motallebi. . She has written lyrics for American jazz band San Gabriel 7. Other publications. Wolpe's work can be found in the following anthologies: