LIVE from NYPL, World Literature Festival: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women: Readings, Music, & Conversation

Poets, artists, and activists share and reflect on centuries of poetry from women across Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and India.

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Whether mocking impotent husbands, calling out for emancipation, speaking to one's heart, or leveling criticism at state violence, the concerns and experiences reflected in the poetry collection, The Mirror of My Heart, are as diverse as the lives of the women who expressed them. The new collection, translated by Dick Davis, spans from the Middle Ages to contemporary times and from Iran all the way to Uzbekistan.

Contemporary women artists and writers celebrate the collection through readings, music, and a discussion about carrying forward this terrific lineage of poetic thinking. 

This event is produced in partnership with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The program will be streamed on this page. If you encounter any issues, please join us on NYPL's YouTube channel.

• Introduction – Emily Wejchert | Librarian, The New York Public Library
• Invocation – Roya Hakakian | author, A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious
  • poem by Jahan Malek Khatun (c. 1324 – c. 1382), read in Persian and English
• Message from the translator – Dick Davis | translator, The Mirror of My Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women
• Poetry Readings – Dina Nayeri | author, The Ungrateful Refugee
  • three poems by Jahan Malek Khatun (c. 1324 – c. 1382)
  • poem by Bija Nehani Qa’emi (16th century) 
  • poem by Farkhondeh Savoji (Late 19th / Early 20th century) 
  • “Never to fall asleep…” by Fatemeh Shams (born 1983)
• Poetry Readings – Wazina Zondon | co-creator,  Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love
  • poem by Rabe’eh (10th century)
  • ​poem by Aysheh Afghani (18th century)
  • “Prostitute's Song" by Simin Behbahani (1927 – 2014)
  • "An Innocent Little Girl" by Fevzieh Rahgozar Barlas (born 1955)
  • "Mother's Shared Blouse" by Parween Pazwhak (born 1967)
• Poetry Readings – Shohreh Aghdashloo | Oscar-nominated actress, House of Sand and Fog
  • “The Broken Mirror” by Forugh Farrokhzad (1934 – 67)
  • “Walls” by Tahereh Saffarzadeh (1936 – 2008)
  • ​“The Dictator's Message” by Mina Assadi (born 1943)
• Poetry Readings – Roya Hakakian
  • poem by Mahsati
  • “For What?” by Simin Behbahani, 
  • ​“A Wind-Up Doll” by Forugh Farrokhzad
• Musical Performance – Arooj Aftab | musician
• Panel
  • Shahzia Sikander | artist
  • Sholeh Wolpé | poet, playwright, literary translator, The Conference of the Birds
  • Wazina Zondon
  • Roya Hakakian

     

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog
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• A Beginner’s Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious by Roya Hakakian —
  NYPL Catalog ; Bookshare
• Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran by Roya Hakakian —
  NYPL Catalog ; Bookshare
• The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri —
  NYPL Catalog ; NYPL Talking Books ; Bookshare
• Refuge: A Novel by Dina Nayeri —
  NYPL Catalog ; NYPL Talking Books ; Bookshare
• Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad by Forugh Farrokhzad, translated by Sholeh Wolpé —
  NYPL Catalog
• The Scar Saloon: Poems by Sholeh Wolpé —
  NYPL Catalog
• The Conference of the Birds by Attar, translated by Sholeh Wolpé —
  NYPL Catalog ; Bookshare
• Shahnameh: the Persian Book of Kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi, translated by Dick Davis —
  NYPL Catalog ; NYPL Talking Books ; Bookshare
• Layli and Majnun by Nezami Ganjavi, translated by Dick Davis —
  NYPL Catalog ; Bookshare

Arooj Aftab's music floats within several liminal spaces you might not have imagined—between New Age and classical minimalism, between Sufi devotional poetry and electronic trance, between singer-songwriter structure and states of pure being. Raised in Laore, Pakistan, to a family that loved music and indulged her budding interestes, Aftab had a natural aptitutde, absorbing the lessons of imported pop, south asian classic music, and urdu poetry set to sound. In Pakistan, she recorded a humble and beautiful acoustic cover of "Hallelujah" that became a viral treasure. After moving to New England to attend the Berklee College of Music, though, her audio universe suddenly opened up, revealing abstract jazz and modern composition that would allow her to stretch her sense of song and magnificaent voice into totally immersive states of being.

 Shohreh Aghdashloo is an Emmy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated actress whose prolific work on stage and screen has been lauded for decades in both her native Iran and all over the world, especially in her adopted home, the United States. American audiences know her best from her Oscar-nominated performance in House of Sand and Fog and her Emmy-award winning role in HBO's acclaimed House of Saddam. Currently, Shohreh can been seen starring in the futuristic TV series The Expanse, which is based on the popular New York Times bestselling book series of the same name. Shohreh plays the principal character, Chrisjen Avasrala, a smart and passionate member of a political family legacy who has risen high through the ranks of Earth's governing body.  In film, Shohreh was most recently seen in the romantic comedy Simple Wedding, in whish she starred alongside Rita Wilson and served as an Executive Producer. Shohreh also recently stepped into the role of Bano Ayoub in the Canadian feature The Cuban and wrapped production working on the moving Run Sweetheart Run, a feminist horror-thriller co-produced by Blumhouse Productions in association with Quiet Girl Productions. A diverse talent, Shohreh has moved between television, film, and theater with much ease. In 2012, Shohreh dazzled critics on-stage while portaying the title character in the legendary Federico Garcia Lorca's final theatrical play House of Bernarda Alba, in London at the famed Almeida Theater. Shohreh's prestigious TV credits include: 24, The Punisher, Grimm, Grey's Anatomy, House MD, Law & Order: SVU, Will & Grace, among many others. Shohreh's work in film includes blockbusters such as Star Trek Beyond, X-Men - The Stand and The Sisters of The Traveling Pants.

Dick Davis is a translator, a poet, and a scholar of Persian literature who has published more than 20 books. He retired in 2012 as a professor of Persian at Ohio State University and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His translations from Persian include Shahnameh, Hafez's Faces of Love, Rostam, Vis and Ramin, and Layla and Majnun.

Roya Hakakian is the author of Assassins of the Turquoise Palace and Journey from the Land of No, and has published two collections of poetry in Persian. Her latest book is A Beginner's Guide to America: For the Immigrant and the Curious, published by Knopf in March. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and on NPR's All Things Considered. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and served on the editorial board of World Affairs. Since 2015, she has taught at THREAD, a writing workshop at Yale, and is a fellow at the Davenport College at Yale. She lives in Connecticut. 

Dina Nayeri is the author of The Ungrateful Refugee, winner of the Geschwister Scholl Preis and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Kirkus Prize. Her essay of the same name was one of The Guardian's most widely read long reads in 2017. A fellow at the Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination in Paris, and winner of the 2018 UNESCO City of Literature Paul Engle Prize, Dina has won a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the O. Henry Prize, and Best American Short Stories, among other honors. Her work has been published in 20+ countries and in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Granta, and many other publications. She is a graduate of Princeton, Harvard, and the Iowa Writers Workshop.

Sholeh Wolpé is an Iranian-born poet, playwright and librettist. Named a "2020-2021 Cultural Trailblazer" by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Wolpé is the recipient of PEN/Heim, Midwest Book Award, and Lois Roth Persian Translation prize, among others. Her most recent books include Keeping Time With Blue Hyacinth, and The Conference of the Birds (W.W. Norton). Wolpé's literary work numbers over twelve collections of poetry, books of translations, and anthologies, as well as several plays. She has performed her literary work with world-renowned musicians nationally and internationally. Sholeh is presently the current Writer-in-Residence at UC Irvine. www.sholehwolpe.com 

Shahzia Sikander is a pioneering Pakistani American who is one of the most influential artists working today. Sikander is widely celebrated for expanding and subverting pre-modern and classical Central and South-Asian miniature painting traditions and launching the form known today as neo-miniature. By creating dialogue between traditional, historical and contemporary art practices, Sikander's multivalent and investigative work examines colonial archives to readdress orientalist narratives in western art history. Interrogating ideas of language, trade , empire, and migration through imperial and feminist perspectives, Sikander's paintings, video animations, mosaics and sculpture explore gender roles and sexuality, cultural identity, racial narratives, and colonial and postcolonial histories. Sikander earned a B.F.A. from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan (1991). Her seminal thesis work, The Scroll (1989–1990), initiated the neo-miniature Movement garnering numerous awards, exhibitions and press. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2006) and the State Department Medal of Arts (2012), Sikander's innovative work has been exhibited and collected internationally. Shazhia Sikander will be the subject of a traveling exhibition titled Shahzia Sikander: Extraordinary Realities. The exhibition will open at The Morgan Library, New York in June 2021 followed by the RISD Museum, Rhode Island in November 2021, and MFA Houston, Texas in Spring 2022. On the occasion of these exhibitions, there will be a major new monograph printed. Extraordinary Realities, is an exhaustive examination of Sikander's work from 1987 to 2003, charting her early development as an artist in Lahore and the United States, and foregrounding her critical role in bringing miniature painting into dialogue with contemporary art. Edited by Jan Howard and Sadia Abbas, with contributions by Gayatri Gopinath, Faisal Devji, Kishwar Rizvi, Sadia Abbas, Jan Howard, Vasif Kortun, Dennis Congdon, Bashir Ahmed, Rick Lower, and Julie Mehretu. 

Wazina Zondon is an Afghan who was raised in New York City. Wazina's storycollecting and storytelling work centers collective memories, tradition, and rites of passages in the diaspora. Wazina is the co-presenter of Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, a storytelling performance alongside her creative counterpart, Terna Tilley-Gyado. Currently, she is working on a book (re)tracing her parent's love story and family's inherited love print. She is included in Reebok's 2020 #AllTypesofLove Pride Campaign, Esquire Sinagpore, Advocate Magazine's 2019 Champions of Pride, HBO's OutList, HuffPost, VICE/Broadly, them., Season 2 of The Secret Life of Muslims and The Muslims of Brooklyn Oral History Project. Facebook: @Wazina Zondon. Instagram: @wazina. Twitter: wazinazondon 

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This event is presented in honor of Francine Houben and Elizabeth Leber through the generous support of Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos.

This event is presented in honor of Francine Houben and Elizabeth Leber through the generous support of Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos.LIVE from NYPL is made possible by the support of Library patrons and friends, as well as by the continuing generosity of Celeste Bartos, Mahnaz Ispahani Bartos and Adam Bartos, and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Public Education Endowment Fund.