Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad

by Forugh Farrokhzad, Sholeh Wolpe (Translator), Alicia Suskin Ostriker (Contribution by)

Overview

Winner of the 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation Prize

“In Wolpé’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. ”
—Excerpt from the Lois Roth judges’ award statement

Sin includes the entirety of Farrokhzad’s last book, numerous selections from her fourth and most enduring book, Reborn, and selections from her earlier work, and creates a collection that is true to the meaning, the intention, and the music of the original poems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557289483
Publisher:	University of Arkansas Press
Publication date:	06/01/2010
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Sholeh Wolpé is an Iranian-American poet and playwright. Named a “2020-2021 Cultural Trailblazer” by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Wolpé is the recipient of the 2014 PEN/Heim, 2013 Midwest Book Award, 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize. Her most recent books include Abacus of Loss: A Memoir in Verse, Keeping Time With Blue Hyacinth, The Conference of the Birds and Let Me In. Wolpé’s literary work number over twelve collections of poetry, books of translations, and anthologies, as well as several plays . She is the Writer-in-Residence at UC Irvine. More information: www.sholehwolpe.com

What People are Saying About This

Alica Ostriker

The shock of Farrokhzad's poetry is the shock of purity, of ice water, of a corpse rotting in broad daylight. The purity is that of her relentless intensity. . . . [Wolpé's] translations are hypnotic in their beauty and force. This book will be treasured by readers who crave not a clash of cultures but a connection. (Alica Ostriker, From the Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Translated with deep admiration by Sholeh Wolpé, a poet fluent in both Persian and English, these lucid translations capture the absolute ferocity and passion that have made Forugh Farrokhzad so beloved and so infamous.”
—American Poet

“Poetic modernism came to Iran as late as the 1960s, when Farrokhzad (1935-1967) streaked across the literary horizon. . . . Of course, she became a scandal, one that endures to this day. . . . [T]he poems’ long lines and musical repetitions sweep the reader away as effectively as any American projective verse.”
—Booklist

“Potent . . . like certain works by Charles Wright or Seamus Heaney [these poems] are meticulously built to be precise and elusive at once. They reach outside of the poet’s own experience, beyond her headspace, her gender, her country of origin. Both pensive and urgent, they strive for the universe.”
—Lebanon Daily Star

“Farrokhzad is compared to Akhmatova and Plath. She’s their peer, and this is a magnificent book of beautifully wrought, distinctly modern poems.”
—Robert Covelli, The New Mexican Magazine

From the Publisher

Potent . . . like certain works by Charles Wright or Seamus Heaney [these poems] are meticulously built to be precise and elusive at once. They reach outside of the poet's own experience, beyond her headspace, her gender, her country of origin. Both pensive and urgent, they strive for the universe.

Lebanon Daily Star

Farrokhzad is compared to Akhmatova and Plath. She's their peer, and this is a magnificent book of beautifully wrought, distinctly modern poems.
— The New Mexican Magazine

Robert Covelli

Translated with deep admiration by Sholeh Wolpé, a poet fluent in both Persian and English, these lucid translations capture the absolute ferocity and passion that have made Forugh Farrokhzad so beloved and so infamous.

American Poet

Poetic modernism came to Iran as late as the 1960s, when Farrokhzad (1935?1967) streaked across the literary horizon. . . . Of course, she became a scandal, one that endures to this day. . . . [T]he poems' long lines and musical repetitions sweep the reader away as effectively as any American projective verse.

Booklist