Founder, Artistic Director

Born in London to Iranian parents, Niloufar Talebi received a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Irvine, and an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College. She studied theater with Jean Shelton and Cyril Clayton and has produced and performed nationally.  She edited and translated BELONGING: New Poetry By Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, July 2008) and has presented at numerous venues including the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in NYC, The New School, The National Arts Club, St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Asia Society, the New York Public Library, City University of New York, Universities of California at Berkeley, Irvine and Los Angeles, California College of the Arts, Yale University, Queens College, CAL Arts, Brattleboro Festival, Neustadt Festival of International Literature (where she nominated Shahriar Mandanipour for the Neustadt prize in literature), Theater Artaud, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Actor’s Theater and Intersection for the Arts. She created “Midnight Approaches“, a DVD of short films based on new Iranian poetry, as well as “Four Springs” and “ICARUS/RISE “, multimedia theatrical pieces also based on new Iranian poetry. She is the recipient of translation prizes from the International Center for Writing and Translation (2004), the American Literary Translators Association (2005), the PEN/New York State Council on the Arts (2006) and the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize (2006). She is a member of ALTA and PEN American Center.  She created The Persian Rite of Spring for the Los Angeles Country Museum of Art. She is the author of Ātash Sorushān (Fire Angels), a libretto for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, under commission by Carnegie Hall to world premier there on March 29, 2011 before its west coast premier at Cal Performances in April 2011.  Visit her at niloufartalebi.com

Development Director

Holly Million has been a professional fundraiser, serving nonprofit organizations and independent filmmakers in the San Francisco Bay Area for fifteen years. Experienced in meeting $1 million+ fundraising goals, Holly has worked for such organizations as Interplast, SFJAZZ, KTEH Public Television, Goodwill, Amnesty International, Acterra, and GirlSource. In 1997, Holly secured funding for the Academy Award-winning film, A Story of Healing, and today she continues to raise money for independent film and television programs. In addition, Holly is the author of Fear-Free Fundraising: How to Ask People for Money, a book that shows how to ask individual donors for contributions. A busy consultant, Holly travels around the country leading fundraising workshops. She has a BA from Harvard and an MA from Stanford.

Public Relations

The Quakers have a saying: Let your life speak. When this shard of wisdom is applied to PR, it becomes, Let the story speak. Liam Passmore and his company, Shave and a Haircut, specialize in public relations for arts organizations, authors, artists and others who have a story worth telling. His press placements include Dwell Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco magazine, 7×7 Magazine, The Onion, USA Today, ARTnews, KCBS, KFOG, KQED, KGO, as well as ABC’s View from the Bay and Spark. Clients include the International Museum of Women, Litquake, ODC, author K.M. Soehnlein, Remix Magazine, the TEC Awards … and of course The Translation Project. He plays lots of tennis.

Board of Directors

Bruce Bahmani – BCubed Marketing
Bita Daryabari – Unique Zan Foundation
Fariba Rezvani – Linkore, Partner
Niloufar Talebi – Translation Project

Advisory Committee includes:

Caron Atlas – Art and Social Change consultant
Roshanak Bigonah – Poet, Editor
Mark Eisner – Wirter, Filmmaker, Editor, The Essential Neruda
DW Gibson – Ledig House International Writer’s Residency, Director
Richard Jeffrey Newman – Poet, Translator, Educator
Joshua Robison – San Francisco Symphony, MTT Inc. General Manager
Ahsha Safai – SF Mayor’s Office of Community Dev., Deputy Director
Sharlyn Sawyer – Afsaneh Art and Culture Society
Olivia Sears – Center for Art in Translation, Founder and Board President
Ken Wilson – Christensen Fund, Executive Director
Laurel Winzler – SF Business owner

Editorial Committee

Dr. Nahid Mozaffari – Editor: PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature
Ramin Sarraf – Linguist, Professor of Persian language and culture
and growing…