Sholeh Wolpé



Sholeh Wolpe is an Iranian-American poet, literary translator, and visual artist. She was born in Iran, and has lived in Trinidad, England and United States.

Life
Wolpe was born in Tehran. She spent her teen years in Trinidad and later at a boarding school in Eastbourne, England. She traveled to the United State for her higher education, but was later unable to return to Iran after the Iranian 1979 revolution.

She is the author of two collections of poetry, Rooftops of Tehran (Red Hen Press 2004), The Scar Saloon (Red Hen Press 2007), and a book of literary translations, Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad (University of Arkansas Press 2007)  for which she was awarded the Lois Roth Translation Prize in 2010 by the American Institute of Iranian Studies. About Wolpe’s translations, the judges wrote: “In Wolpe's fresh and vital translation, a musical and compelling English version that draws the reader along and captures a sense of the exquisitely balanced pacing of Farrokhzad's language, and the immediacy and authenticity of her voice, the members of the Lois Roth jury found themselves experiencing Forugh's Persian poems with new eyes.“

Wolpe is the editor of The Forbidden: Poems From Iran And Its Exiles (Michigan State University Press, 2012), and is a regional editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East edited by Reza Aslan (W.W. Norton 2010).

Wolpe's co-translation of Walt Whitman'sSong of Myself into Persian, sponsored by the International Program at the University of Iowa, was released along with seven translations of the poem into other languages in November, 2012.

Education
George Washington University -- B.A. in Radio/TV/Film

Northwestern University -- M.A. in Radio/TV/Film

Johns Hopkins University -- MHS in Public Health

Publications

 * The Painted Sun (Confluence Press 2002)
 * The Scar Saloon (Red Hen Press 2004)
 * Rooftops of Tehran (Red Hen Press 2007)
 * Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad (University of Arkansas 2007)

Anthologies

 * Atlanta Review—Iran Issue 2010 Edited by Sholeh Wolpe
 * Tablet & Pen — Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East (W.W. Norton 2010) Edited by Reza Aslan; Sholeh Wolpe, regional editor
 * The Forbidden: Poems From Iran And Its Exiles, edited by Sholeh Wolpé   Michigan State University press, 2012

Audio / video

 * The Scar Saloon CD. Refuge Studios, 2005.