Skip to main content

The Conference of the Birds performed by Sholeh Wolpé

7 September 2018
7.00pm – 9.00pm AEST
Io Myers Studio
This event has ended
Sholeh Wolpé

Can literature save the world? According to celebrated 12th century Iranian Sufi mystic poet, Attar, it is not the world that needs saving, rather it is we who are in dire need of rescue—from the clutches of our own ego, that “cyclone of calamities.”

Sholeh Wolpé, accompanied by musician Siavash Sadr on the santoor, presents poems and selections from her translation of The Conference of the Birds in an uplifting performance that moves the soul.

Shelf Awareness Magazine writes, “A gifted Iranian-American poet beautifully explores love and the loss of love, beauty and war and the ghosts of the past.” Wolpé’s modern translation of The Conference of the Birds has been hailed by Reza Aslan as a translation that “is sure to be as timeless as the masterpiece itself.”

The Conference of the Birds is a brilliant story about our human struggle, both physical and spiritual. It is peppered with beguiling parables that not only guide and instruct, but also entertain. Sufi mystic poet Rumi considered Attar his master, calling him “the spirit” and himself “its shadow.” He wrote:

Attar traveled through all the seven cities of love

While I am only at the bend of the first alley.

To this day, the beauty and wisdom of Attar’s The Conference of the Birds remains unsurpassed. This book may not be able to change the world, but its magic is an antidote to the bitterest ego-concocted poison of our times: extremism.

Presented by UNSWriting
Introduced by Laetitia Nanquette

 

Don't miss a masterclass with Sholeh Wolpé: Found in Translation - a generative workshop.

Speakers
Sholeh Wolpé

Sholeh Wolpé

Sholeh Wolpé is an Iranian-born poet and writer. A recipient of the 2014 PEN Heim 2013 Midwest Book Award and 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize, Wolpé ’s literary work includes four collections of poetry, two plays, three books of translations, and three anthologies. Her most recent publications include The Conference of the Birds (W.W. Norton & Co), Cómo escribir una canción de amor (Olifante Ediciones de Poesia, Spain), and Keeping Time With Blue Hyacinths (University of Arkansas Press.) Wolpé ’s writings have been translated into eleven languages and included in numerous American and international anthologies and journals of poetry and fiction, and featured on programs such as Selected Shorts and Public Radio International.

Wolpé has performed her poems and translations with world-renowned musicians at Quincy Jones Presents series on Broad Stage, Skirball Cultural Center Series, Los Angeles Aloud, and LACMA stage, among others. She travels internationally as a poet and public speaker, and has taught poetry and literary translation at UCLA and University of Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program. Wolpé is the 2018 inaugural Author in Residence at the University of California, Los Angeles where she also teaches as Visiting Associate Professor.

Siavash Sadr

Siavash Sadr

Siavash Sadr was born in 1986 in Shiraz, Iran. He began music at an early age with tonbak (drum) and then santoor. In 2006, he won the first award in the Music festival of southern Iran. In 2012, he graduated in music from Shiraz University. In 2011 Siavash released a santoor solo album called ‘Pareh Siavashan’.

Laetitia Nanquette

Laetitia Nanquette

Laetitia Nanquette is a Senior Lecturer and Australia Research Council DECRA Fellow in the School of the Arts and Media. She works on contemporary Iranian literature and frequently travels to Iran for research fieldworks. She also translates contemporary Persian literary texts.