Dear friends,

The Translation Project celebrates the publication of BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books), on July 22, 2008. Below are links to BELONGING, events and more...

BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, July 2008) Recent political developments, including the shadow of a new war, have obscured the fact that Iran has a long and splendid artistic tradition ranging from the visual arts to literature. Edited and translated by Niloufar Talebi, this anthology remedies that situation with a rich selection of recent poetry by 18 Iranians living all around the world. 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. *See below for book tour info* Buy Here

Read excerpt from the 'Introduction' to BELONGING

This month's featured poet: Amir-Hossein Afrasiabi Amir-Hossein Afrasiabi was born in 1934 in Esfahan, Iran. Poet, short story writer, translator, and critic, he has been living in the Netherlands since 1986. He started writing poetry as a child and continued as a young man, but put it aside in favor of architecture, painting, and making a life abroad. He later began concentrating on poetry again and has authored six books of poetry in Persian and recently published his translations of Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad into Dutch in the Netherlands. Perhaps because Afrasiabi reconnected to poetry later in life, his poetry is different—somehow more current—from that of other voices in his generation. You can read several of his poems in Persian and in English translation in BELONGING. Watch Afrasiabi's poems performed

Anthologies Offer Poetic Diplomacy A write-up about BELONGING and other current poetry anthologies in the July/Aug 2008 Poets and Writers Magazine Read Poets and Writers article here

Iranian Festival at Portland State University Niloufar Talebi performs selections from BELONGING with musicians Bobak Salehi, Nat Hulskamp, Chaz Hastings, Fabod Sedeh, Basheer Badii and Parisa Rabii at the Iranian Festival in Portland. Saturday August 2, 2008 See Iranian Festival website

Stacey's bookstore BELONGING reading Tuesday August 5th from 12:30 - 1:30 PM - This is the first Bay Area reading! 581 Market St in SF (415) 421-4687 Co-sponsored by the Asia Society Northern California See events calendar

Event at City University of New York The Middle East and Middle East American Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center hosts an evening for BELONGING. Wednesday Sept. 17, 2008, 6.30-8.30 PM 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4309 See MEMEAC's website

Mission Arts and Performance Project (MAPP) Screening 'Midnight Approaches', a DVD of short films based on the poetry in BELONGING. Saturday October 4th, 7 PM Location announced in October From 'Midnight Approaches'

2008 Litquake San Francisco BELONGING will be featured in two Litquake events: Sunday October 5th, 2008 at the Koret Reading Series at the SF Public Library Monday October 6th, 2008 at a panel discussion at the Mechanics Institute Library See litquake's Website

ICARUS/RISE Re-mix! For those of you who missed the 2007 premier of ICARUS/RISE, the San Francisco-based Red Poppy Art House is presenting an ICARUS/RISE Re-mix in October 2008. Date TBA 2698 FOLSOM SF, CA 94110 See ICARUS/RISE performance photos

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