Bobak Salehi and Niloufar Talebi perform ICARUS/RISE Remix at University of Oklahoma’s World Literature Today event, the 2009 Neustadt Festival of International Literature and Culture.
Evening program:
Pireeni Sundaralingam and Colm O’Riain
Etgar Keret screening “Jellyfish”
7 PM
Panel on Iranian poetry at the Philoctetes Center for the ‘Multidisciplinary Study of Imagination’ with:
Iraj Anvar
Richard Jeffrey Newman
Roger Sedarat (moderator and participant)
Niloufar Talebi
Katayoon Zandvakili
Tuesday September 22, 2009, 7 - 8:30 PM
247 E 82nd St
New York, NY 10028-2701
(646) 422-0544
Presenting translations of Ziba Karbassi’s poetry the San Francisco International Poetry Festival:
Saturday July 25, 2009
Main Stage Poetry Reading on with Francis Combes, Ziba Karbassi, Georges Castera/Joj Kastra, Taslima Nasrin, Al Young, Ámbar Past, Tarek Eltayeb, Agneta Falk, Sasha Pimentel Chacòn, Ferruccio Brugnaro, Carla Badillo Coronado, and Jack Hirschman.
7:00 - 9:30 PM at Palace of Fine Arts
AND
Sunday July 26, 2009
Ziba Karbassi (Iran) reading with Niloufar Talebi
3:30 – 5:00 PM, North Beach Poetry Crawl at Cafe Trieste
The Translation Project is a community collaborator of The San Francisco International Poetry Festival
Through her translations of contemporary Iranian poetry, Niloufar Talebi discusses the step-by-step process of rendering poetry from one language into another.
See here for a sample talk on translation
Thursday April 16, 2000, 7:30 PM
Falkirk Cultural Center
1408 Mission Avenue
Downtown San Rafael, CA
415.485.3328
Niloufar Talebi does a screens clips from ICARUS/RISE, and discusses Naghali and Pardeh-dari at the ‘From Ghazal to Zuihitsu: Translating Asian Languages and Cultures‘ conference for the ‘Translation in Performance’ panel. Other participants include: Admer Gouryh, a translator of modern Arabic drama who gets the audience acting out the plays; and Maryam Habibian, a Persian translator who depicts Forough Farrokhzad in her one act play/monologue.
Followed by keynote speech by Poet Li-Young Lee.
Creative Writing Program at Queens College,
65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, New York, NY 11367
718/997-4600
4:30 PM - FREE
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World at Kepler’s Books.
Event introduced by Firoozeh Dumas, plus surprise poets! 
February 19, 2009, 7:30 PM
Kepler’s Books
1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park CA, 94025
(650) 324-4321
Niloufar Talebi gives a talk at UC Berkeley, ‘30 Years of BeLonging: The Rise of new Iranian Voices’- co-sponsored by the English Department and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
Maude Fife Room - 315 Wheeler Hall - University of California, Berkeley campus, Berkeley, CA, 94720
6 PM
Niloufar Talebi discusses translation of contemporary Iranian poetry and reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World.
7 PM, Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA 94925 (415) 927-0960
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World and screens footage from ICARUS/RISE at UCLA. Event sponsored by the Iranian Student Group.
6 PM - FREE 308 Westwood Plaza, Kerckhoff Art Gallery, Kerckhoff Hall 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Niloufar Talebi gives a talk about BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World and screens footage from ICARUS/RISE at National University. Event co-sponsored by the Persian Culture Club of San Diego and National University, and Poets and Writers.
National University, 11255 North Torrey Pines Road, Room #123, La Jolla, CA 92037
8 PM - $10 general admission; students free
Niloufar Talebi presents a talk on the dramaturgy of ICARUS/RISE at the “Arts in the One World - Motherhood and Revolution” International Theater conference at CAL ARTS, a co-presentation by the California Institute of the arts (Valencia) and the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center (Kigali)
California Institute of the Arts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, California 91355
2:00 - 3:30 PM at the Faculty Center
FREE
Niloufar Talebi discusses translation, reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, August 2008), and screens clips from ‘Midnight Approaches’ and ‘ICARUS/RISE’.
Nassau Community College
Niloufar Talebi talks about contemporary Iranian poetry and translation
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World at the
Persian Arts Festival’s Shab-e She’r at the Bowery Poetry Club.
Wednesday November 19th, from 6-8 PM
308 Bowery
New York, NY 10012
(212) 614-0505
Niloufar Talebi reads her work-in-progress at the Ledig House International Writer’s Residency ‘KGB Bar reading series’.
Sunday November 9th, 7 PM
KGB Bar
85 East 4th Street
NYC 10003
For those of you who missed the 2007 premier of ICARUS/RISE at Theater Artaud, the San Francisco-based Red Poppy Art House is presenting an ICARUS/RISE Re-mix.
ICARUS/RISE is a multimedia theatrical piece based on poetry featured in BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World, connecting the myth of Icarus with the migration of Iranians, and the solitary journey of the artist/migrant in the quest for freedom.
Friday October 10, 2008 and Saturday October 11, 2008
2698 FOLSOM SF,CA 94110
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World at Books Inc. Mountain View.
Thursday October 9, 2008 @ 7:30 PM
301 Castro Street, Mountain View
(650) 428-1234
Writer and filmmaker Jason Rezaian hosts a reading of BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, August 2008), edited and translated by Niloufar Talebi, at his unique and soulful Persian rug store.
Rug Jones
531 Sutter St. (between Powell and Mason)
San Francisco, CA 94102
rugs@rugjones.com or call (415)399-1492
Niloufar Talebi participates in a panel, “East of Istanbul: Voices from the Muslim World” with Tamim Ansary, Anita Amirrezvani, Persis Karim, moderated by UpFront and New America Media’s Sandip Roy
October 6, 2008 at 6 PM - Mechanics Institute Library
57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 393-0100
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World at Litquake festival’s
Koret Reading Series, “Around the World in 60 Minutes”
Readers are:
Nguyen Do
Malena Watrous
Siddharth Shanghvi
Niloufar Talebi
Zoë Ferraris
Saikat Majumdar
Erika Mailman
Saturday October 4, 2008, 12 Noon
Book signing at 5:30 PM
San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street
San Francisco CA 94102-4733 - (415) 557-4400
Screening ‘Midnight Approaches’, a DVD of short films based on the poetry in BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World.
Saturday October 4th, 7 PM
Various locations around Folsom and 23rd Street in San Francisco
Niloufar Talebi reads from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World
at the Cornelia Street Cafe.
Thursday September 25, 2008
29 Cornelia Street, NYC 10014
212-989-9319
6-8 PM. $7 admission includes a drink.
Co-sponsored by Kodoom.com
The Middle East and Middle East American Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center hosts an evening for BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World.
Wednesday Sept. 17, 2008, 6.30-8.30 PM
365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309
Rooms C204/205
212/817-7570
Co-sponsored by Kodoom.com
Niloufar Talebi reads from “BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World” (North Atlantic Books), along with Joyce Zonana, who will talk about and sign copies of her memoir “Dream Homes, From Cairo to Katrina, an Exile’s Journey” (Feminist Press 2008), about growing up Egyptian American and Jewish.
6-8 PM
Levantine Cultural Center
1012 S. Robertson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
310/657-5511
The Asia Society Northern California co-presents the first reading of BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World in San Francisco, at Stacey’s Bookstore in downtown SF.
Tuesday August 5th, 2008, 12:30 - 1:30 pm
581 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 421-4687
Niloufar Talebi performs selections from BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World with musicians Bobak Salehi, Nat Hulskamp, Chaz Hastings, Fabod Sedeh, Basheer Badii and Parisa Rabii at the Iranian Festival in Portland.
This anthology features 18 Iranian poets whose work varies dramatically in style, tone and theme, including Amir-Hossein Afrasiabi’s lyric poems, erotic divertissements by Ziba Karbassi, rigorously formal poetry by Yadollah Royaii, experimental poems by Naanaam, powerful polemics by Maryam Huleh, and the personal-epic work of Shahrouz Rashid. Eclectic and accessible, these vibrant poems deepen the often limited awareness of Iranian identity today by not only introducing readers to contemporary Iranian poetry, but also expanding the canon of significant writing in the Persian language. Belonging offers a glimpse at a complex culture through some of its finest literary talents.
“Niloufar Talebi’s 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….”
–Carolyn Forché
Editor of Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness
“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
“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…”
–Martín Espada
Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of The Republic of Poetry
“With literary skill and passion, Niloufar Talebi overcome the obstacles of matter, time and geographical space to produce a remarkable collection of Iranian poetry in diaspora … BELONGING is 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 form rich but under-represented literary canons for the anglophone reader. ”
–Nahid Mozaffari
Editor of the PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature
Contemporary Poetry in Translation:
Paul Vangelisti, Hélène Cardona, and Niloufar Talebi read their translations of contemporary poetry and discuss their processes of translation.
Sponsored by Tebot Bach
May 2nd @ 8 PM
Golden West College, Community Room 102
Huntington Beach, CA
Free Parking and Admission
Director Nasser Saffarian deftly combines interviews with family members and peers with footage of Farrokhzad shot by Bernardo Bertolucci. Saffarian digs deep into her personal and professional life to uncover new information about this outspoken artist. A revealing look at her private world.
A landmark in Iranian cinema, and spliced with Farrokhzad’s narration of quotes from the Old Testament, the Koran and her own poetry, it is a look at life and suffering in a leper colony and focuses on the human condition and the beauty of life.
“…a spectacular film…truly impressive” —Judy Woodruff, CNN
Feature Documentary of Middle Eastern teenagers who spend 3 weeks at camp with their “enemy”.
An acclaimed story-writer and novelist, Ahmad Mahmoud was born on December 25, 1931 in Ahwaz. In his youth he worked as a day laborer, driver, construction worker and suffered imprisonment for his political views.
“An authentic glimpse into the Under 30 generation that makes up 65% of Iran’s current population.”
Director Nasser Saffarian deftly combines interviews with family members and peers with footage of Farrokhzad shot by Bernardo Bertolucci. Saffarian digs deep into her personal and professional life to uncover new information about this outspoken artist. An exploration of her ground-breaking, controversial, and erotic poetry.
“Sometimes the further you go away, the deeper you go within.”
A Never before seen documentary of the secret rituals of the Kurdish Sufis.
A documentary about one of the most important Iranian poet and intellectual icon.
“A funny documentary that chronicles the fantasy of a Cab driver in Tehran that he will someday sing on stage with the famous singer, Aref”
Art Exhibit by Beyond | Persia, Hors d’œuvres (7pm)
A multimedia theatrical piece based on new Iranian poetry. Connects the myth of Icarus with the migration of Iranians, and the solitary journey of the artist/migrant in the quest for freedom. ICARUS/RISE begins after the fall and is the journey to self-possession, featuring the emerging voices of Iranian poetry, including Ziba Karbassi, Granaz Moussavi, Maryam Huleh and Shahrouz Rashid, the poet of “Icarus”.
View photos of the making of ICARUS/RISE
View video clips of ICARUS/RISE
Created by Niloufar Talebi
Original Score by Bobak Salehi
Choreography and video by Alex Ketley
Percussion, Ian Ding
Cello, Kristina Forester
Lighting Design, Allen Willner
Dramaturg, Zack Rogow
Post-Show cast meet & greet, dance party
Art Exhibit by Beyond | Persia, Hors d’œuvres (7pm)
Post-Show cast meet & greet, dance party
Bookstore (11 am-4 pm)
Panel 1: “Literature and Performance” (11-12:15)
With Ram Devineni, Zack Rogow, Niloufar Talebi
Panel 2: “Iranian literature as World Literature” (12:30-1:45)
With Martin Riker, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Richard Jeffrey Newman
Keynote Talk (2-3:15)
Moniru Ravanipur: “Why is Iranian Literature not World Literature (yet)”
Book Signing (3:20-4)
Moniru Ravanipur, Fatemeh Keshavarz, Richard Jeffrey Newman, Ram Devineni, Shahrouz Rashid…
Gala Celebration:Reception and Art Auction (6-7)
Gala Dinner and Live Entertainment (8-11:30)
Interview (in Persian) with Voice Of America on December 16th, 2006 with “Roundtable With You”, Meezgerdi Baa Shomaa.
Files are quite large, they will take some time to download.
DVD screens at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) annual conference in Boston. November 18-21.
The Translation Project organizes a multi-media conference on the life and poetry of Iranian women poets including and since Forough Farrokhzad. Conference presentations include Farrokhzad’s only film, The House is Black, the Nasser Saffarian trilogy of films on Farrokhzad, Sard-e Sabz, Jaam-e Jaan, and Oj-e Moj. Dr. Maryam Habibian presents a lecture, a theater piece and a short documentary on the life and work of Farrokhzad. Niloufar Talebi presents a dramatic reading of selections from her Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Poetry Around the World, a lecture on contemporary Iranian poetry and a screening of Midnight Approaches….
November 14-15, State University of New York, Plattsburgh
Niloufar Talebi presents an evening of dramatic readings of contemporary Iranian poetry accompanied with live music by multi-instrumentalist, Bobak Salehi and goup, at the annual American Literary Translators Association conference in the Seattle area.
Conference October 18-21
Reading translations of contemporary Iranian poetry.
Presenting a paper on Contemporary Iranian Poets outside Iran and screening our films based on these voices.
October 6-8, Brattleboro, VT
“I found the marriage of visual, musical and poetic imagery in Niloufar
Talebi’s work to be touching and effective and an ideal way to discover
and appreciate contemporary Iranian poetry.”
- Michael Tilson Thomas
Music Director, San Francisco Symphony
“An accomplished translator, Niloufar Talebi is presenting our rich Iranian tradition to the world with The Translation Project. I appreciate her long and valuable journey and wish her the best in her difficult job.”
- Shahrnush Parsipur
Author of Tooba and the Meaning of Night and Women Without Men
Let’s face it, no matter where you are, or what time it is, midnight is always approaching. What this means is that the time has arrived when you must take into account all that has happened. Which is what Niloufar Talebi and The Translation Project have done via their multi-dimensional, evocative and entertaining Midnight Approaches….
While Iran is currently in the news because of politics and religious fanaticism, The Translation Project feels compelled to show more, and give voice to contemporary Iranian literature. Midnight Approaches… features poets living outside the country due to forces that have gripped the country since 1979 and continue to still shape the world today.
These poems express what it’s like to be transplanted, to have humor, to be alone, to be in love, or to yearn. In much the same way that The Kite Runner centered on an Afghani family but conjured universal truths, these poems also communicate things that exist beyond translation, yet rely on it in order to be understood.
These poets are not unlike the “lost generation” writers of the Twenties-Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Fitzgerald, and Pound-who wrote as Americans but with a worldly experience after moving to Europe. As the most European of American cities, San Francisco makes a natural home for the resilience and spirit of these poems. Much as it did for the Beat poets and their words of that time.
Iran has had a long history of supporting the arts through state institutions. Unfortunately this support no longer exist. If Iranian arts, letters and culture are going to survive, it will be through the support of both the Iranian and American communities for works like The Translation Project. We rely on your support and thank you for it.
This benefit screening of the long-awaited Midnight Approaches… will show in public for the first time the combination of performance, music and dance that brings this poetry to life.
Sponsorship opportunities:
Platinum - $5000
-5 copies of the DVD and 5 VIP seats
-Premium billing in program
-Personal thanks in opening or closing remarks at the benefit
-Mention by Niloufar Talebi during appearance on KRON 4 news segment
-Co-producer credit on upcoming film, “Love is Lemony”
Gold - $3000
-3 copies of the DVD and 3 VIP seats
-Featured billing in program
-Credit in Anthology
-Personal thanks in opening or closing remarks at the benefit
Silver - $2000
-2 copies of the DVD and 2 VIP seats
-Featured billing in program
-Credit in Anthology
-Personal thanks in opening or closing remarks at the benefit
Admission
Reception, silent auction and screening - $75.00
Reception, silent auction, screening and musical performance - $125.00
All of the above plus a copy of our DVD - $200.00
Those already owning a DVD, full admission is $100/person or $200/couple
Event Details
Reception and silent auction 6-7pm
Screening 7-8pm
Musical Performance by Ostaad Nejad 8-9pm
Catering generously donated by Maykadeh restaurant in North Beach
Wines donated by Le Pialet and Stephen Vincent Wines
Theater courtesy of Jean Shelton Actors Lab
The September 24th Benefit Screening is featured on KRON 4 Weekend Update. View 9/17/06 appearance footage below.
Poet Majid Naficy participates in The Resilience of the Human Spirit, An International Gathering of Poets. Other participating poets are Carolyn Forche, Naomi Shahib Nye, Li-Young Lee, Lillian Boraks-Nemetz, Yasuhiko Shigemoto, Alexandre Kimenyi, Claribel Alegria, Choman Hardi, Orlando Ricardo Menes, Dunya Mikhail, Valzhyna Mort, and Nguyen Chi Thien.
Spetember 16-17 at the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, MA
Sponsored by Blue Flower Arts
Guest teaching former SF poet laureate, devorah major’s, “World Poetry and Resistance” class in San Francisco at the California College for the Arts.
Participation in Mehregan events include dramatic reading and film screening. More info later.
September 9-10
Orange County
Screening Midnight Approaches….
LA Film Society,
11338 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Presentation about the project and how to become a part of growing the presence of contemporary Iranian literature on the world stage.
Iranian-American Chamber of Commerce meeting at Santorini restaurant
242 O’Farrell street in San Francisco, 7-9 pm
6th Biennial on Iranian Studies, co-sponsored by the Iran Heritage Foundation
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, UK
August 3-5
View highlights from the bilingual interview with Iranican live on the Persian News Network.
دوستان عزیز دوزبانه–انگلیسی-فارسی–میتوانند قسمتی از گفتگو را اینجا ببینند
Multi-city tribute to this Iranian bard. Niloufar will read Simin Behbahani’s poetry in translation.
Sunday May 14th, Dwinelle Hall, University of California Berkeley
2-3 pm Social hour, book sale and TTP display table
3-5 pm Program
Annual San Francisco Gala, 2006.
Bridging Past and Present
Ritz Carlton San Francisco
6:30 - 11 pm
Markazi Satellite TV interviews Niloufar about the project and will screen footage from Paper Boats, the DVD of films based on poetry. Interview can also be viewed online at www.pamtv.us
9 - 10 pm PST (Los Angeles Time)
Screening our Poetryfilms and doing a dramatic collaborative reading at SIP’s annual Spring event.
FAZ Restaurant, Grand Ballroom
1108 N. Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale
Tickets: Free for Members, $15 for Non Members
Event Information: 408.236.2188
The University of Iowa Translaton Center hosts a translation colloquim and a carnival from March 31 to April 2.
Our Poetryfilms will screen on Sunday April 2.
Apadana Satellite TV interviews Niloufar about the project and will screen footage from Paper Boats, the DVD of films based on poetry.
6:30 - 7:30 pm Pacific Standard Time (Los Angeles time)
Our panel, “Iranians Translating Iranians”, will focus on the issues of translation with knowledge of Persian and without through translation intermediaries, the advantages and challenges of translating out of Persian by native and dominant speakers, and the opportunity to reverse the fetishization of Persian literature and re-introduce it to the western mind.
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs
AWP 2006 Annual Conference & Bookfair
March 8-11, 2006
Austin, Texas
HILTON AUSTIN & AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER
Two of our short films, Tomorrow and Night, based respectively on the poetry of Abbas Saffari and Majid Naficy, screen at the Visible Verse 2005 Film Festival at Pacific Cinematheque in Vancouver, B.C.
7:30 pm, 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver
*Niloufar named an ALTA 2005 Fellow*
I moderate a panel on creating contemporary translations of Iranian poetry, and participate in a panel on editing anthologies at the 2005 American Literary Translator’s Association’s annual conference, as well as screen Paper Boats and do a reading of my translations of Shahrouz Rashid’s poetry.
November 2-5, Hotel Omni Mont-Royal, Montreal, Canada.
A ONE-NIGHT-ONLY SCREENING of PAPER BOATS: Short Films of Contemporary Iranian Poetry, a one of a kind artist collaboration, in this sneak-preview screening of a work in progress. Fusing San Francisco’s avant-garde dancers, performers, musicians and filmmakers with contemporary Iranian poetry, PAPER BOATS offers its audience a truly unique look at the collaborative process. PAPER BOATS features seven contemporary Iranian poems acted out by performers with live music composed for each poem to a sold-out house at the ODC Theater. Gaining one more level of interpretation, external images were added to the edited performance footage, creating powerful shorts. PAPER BOATS also includes a narrated section on the history of Persian poetry, a fascinating behind the scenes, as well as a coming attractions section. This unique event allows the audience to see its process, and the individual interpretation of the poetry that each collaborator brings to the piece as we invite support to take it to completion. Musical ensemble lead by Hafez Modirzadeh, ODC show directed by Zara Houshmand, production, design and choreography by Ballet Afsaneh, and editing by InVision Productions.
Dolby Laboratories
100 Potrero Avenue (cross street is Alameda)
San Francisco, CA
Reception 6:30 pm, Screening 7pm
Spirit of the Letter, The Translator’s Challenge: Panel discussion with recipients of the International Center for Writing & Translation’s (ICWT) grant: translators K. Suneetha Rani, Heather Marie Stoddard, Niloufar Talebi and Sergio Waisman.
4 p.m., Humanities Instructional Building, Room 135. Irvine, CA.
Free. Info: 949.824.1948.
San Francisco launch of Bodies, the new issue of TWO LINES. Reception 6:30, reading 7:15 pm, The Blue Room Gallery, 2331 Mission Street (between 19th and 20th), San Francisco.
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses and the New York Public Library, CLMP/NYPL, present Periodically Speaking, a reading of Translations from the Axis of Evil. TTP represents Rattapallax Magazine.
6 pm, New York Public Library on 5th Avenue at 42nd street. DeWitt Wallace periodicals room.
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