English translations and recitations of Ahmad Shamlou’s poetry by Niloufar Talebi
ترجمه و دکلمه ی انگلیسی اشعار احمد شاملو از نیلوفر طالبی
Niloufar Talebi awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship for her translation of Ahmad Shamlou
.احمد شاملو (۲۱ آذر ۱۳۰۴–۲ مرداد ۱۳۷۹) متخلص به الف. بامداد، شاعر، فیلم‌ساز، روزنامه‌نگار، پژوهشگر، مترجم، و فرهنگ‌نویس بود
Nobel Prize nominated poet, Ahmad Shamlou (December 12, 1925 – July 23, 2000), is one of the most influential cultural figures of Iran. Also a writer, translator, encyclopedist, and critic, he synthesized international aesthetic ideas with Iranian traditions and practices to foment a modernist revolution in Iranian poetics and help cement its transition from metrical poetry to free verse, not only in form but also in content.
These award-winning English translations of Ahmad Shamlou’s poetry — hailed as “superb,” “marvelous,” and “expert” — are published in Self-Portrait in Bloom, Niloufar Talebi’s memoir that includes a portrait of Shamlou’s life and work along with translations of 30+ of his poems, selected letters, quotes, and other material. When sharing these translations (for non-commercial purposes only), please always credit the translator:
English translation by Niloufar Talebi (c) 2020 [or latest year]
“On Making Beauty After Agony,” Niloufar Talebi’s TEDxBerkeley Talk on creating her Shamlou book, Self-Portrait in Bloom, and opera, Abraham in Flames, against odds…
Ahmad Shamlou went by the pen names A. Bamdad, Alef Bamdad, or Bamdad. His name is also spelled as Shamloo, Shamlu, and Shamlū.
Here are my readings and discussion of two Shamlou poems titled میلاد, each of which I’ve translated into a different title.
Self-Portrait in Bloom (l’Aleph, 2019)
Read more translations in Self-Portrait in Bloom
کتاب *خود-پرتره در شکوفائی* از نیلوفر طالبی
ترکیبی از خاطرات، یادداشت ها، عکس، تاریخچه ادبیات معاصر ایران و زندگی و میراث شاعر بزرگ احمد شاملو و ترجمه اشعار او به انگیلیسی
"A hybrid wonder." — The Rumpus
"Brilliant writers can have brilliant debuts. Elegiac and deep diving into the mind of a genius existentialist, Niloufar Talebi's memoir, Self-Portrait in Bloom, is reminiscent of Sebald. This original work feels true to continuous life and disjointed memory -- separate yet forced to be connected. This is a compelling book by a true writer. — Amy Tan, author of Where the Past Begins: A Writer's Memoir
"Self-Portrait in Bloom recounts the stories of poets, revolutions, women, and censorship. A celebration of the recreative power of memory and language, from the girl standing in front of her blue bedroom window watching snow, to the many lessons of silence — Talebi's ‘animal with two faces.’ It is a book of longing, haunted by history." — Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
"A passionate defense of the crucial role translation plays in connecting the world, Self-Portrait in Bloom also tells the story of Niloufar Talebi's courage in overcoming profound obstacles to bring her expert translations of world-class Iranian poet, Ahmad Shamlou, to new readers. A brave and remarkable feat." — Edith Grossman, author of Why Translation Matters
"Niloufar Talebi offers a lyrical evocation of an Iranian childhood, of a girl growing into complicated maturity as an artist while bringing to life the great Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou, whose art became intertwined with her own. For these achievements alone, her book would be well worth reading. But Talebi is after bigger game. Step by step, she lures us into a profound meditation on the power of poetry, the politics of language, and the art of translation--and then into the shocking spectacle of an artist stifled. This memoir is not just poignant, it's wrenching." — Tamim Ansary, author of West of Kabul, East of New York, and Games Without Rules
"A brutally honest memoir of a life built by words, destroyed by words, rebuilt by words." — Firoozeh Dumas, New York Times Bestselling Author of Funny in Farsi and Laughing Without An Accent.
"Niloufar Talebi has written an original and intriguing memoir. Dispensing with linearity, shuttling between her Iranian childhood and her American coming of age, she moves nimbly up and back along the space-time axis. A loving and contemplative spirit compels these pages forward." — Sven Birkerts, author of Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age
“Niloufar Talebi’s Self-Portrait in Bloom is not only a personal portrait that presents her marvelous translations of the poetry of the great Iranian poet, Ahmad Shamlou, a friend of the Talebi family, but it contains her hymn to and of Tehran in a brilliant prose-poem that makes that city memorable.” — Jack Hirschman, Emeritus Poet Laureate of San Francisco
"Niloufar Talebi's superb translations of Shamlou's poetry convey a deep mastery and love of the immortal poet's texts, and are a major contribution in presenting Shamlou's literary greatness for Western readers. These translations are a work of love."
— Nahid Mozaffari, editor, Strange Times My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature
“In Self-Portrait in Bloom Talebi treats nonfiction as a manicured garden where memoir, essay, commentary, scholarship, translation, and so much more coexist. She treats autobiography as a door to deeper reflection, not just introducing Shamlou to Western audiences who will not have heard of him before, but also interrogating the politics of translation that reflect and shape power relations between Iran and the United States.” — “Translation and Power,” Asterix Journal
“Niloufar Talebi breaks cultural barriers, walls for women, and harnesses this ability to break expectations and limitations of genre...She is clearly an unstoppable force for creativity and art in American culture. Other attempts at a hybrid genre include fiction-based collections but nothing reflective of Talebi’s new genre, which combines nonfiction, translation, and creative writing— perhaps the first book of its kind. It is clear that Americans need more of Niloufar Talebi: her translation, her story, and her lyrics...” — Hannah Terry, Self-Portrait in Bloom Review
