Poetry by Fatemeh Shams Wins Award from Poetry International

Berlin, a translated collection of poetry by Fatemeh Shams, associate professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, was selected by Poetry International as a winner of its Chapbook Competition. The work was translated by Armen Davoudian, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford. Sandra Alcosser, editor-in-chief of Poetry International, said, “Armen Davoudian’s translations of Iranian poet Fatemeh Shams’s Berlin capture the haunting voice of one woman pulling a suitcase across the streets of the world.” Berlin will be published in Issue 29 of the journal.

“Poetry International is one of the oldest and most respected literary journals dedicated to publishing poetry from around the globe,” said Shams. “Each issue of the print journal brings together poems, portfolios, and prose representing a rich diversity of countries and languages. I am thrilled that poems that I wrote during my stay in Berlin have found a permanent home now."

Shams is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning poet who has published several collections in Persian and English. A specialist in Persian literature, her work focuses on the intersection of literature, politics, and society. Her book, A Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-option under the Islamic Republic, is particularly concerned with the question of poets and patrons in past and present Iran.

To hear Shams talk about writing poetry in Berlin as part of our In These Times podcast, click here.

To read more about the Chapbook Competition, click here.