Wall of an old smithing workshop in Herat, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Mahboba Rezayi.
“In my work, love is inseparable from history.”
We are honored to be joined by poet Elyas Alavi and poet-translator Sholeh Wolpé for our Literature & Democracy series this spring. With grace and gravity they discuss the impact of exile, as well as the lessons that can be learned from displacement, adversity, and fortitude of the spirit. As Wolpé writes, ”I think it is only through loss that we find what we are left with, and what we have gained.” And as Elyas Alavi affirms: “In my work, love is inseparable from history . . . yet love can still carry resistance. Not because it escapes violence, but because it persists despite it.”
Three Poems by Elyas Alavi, translated by Sholeh Wolpé
The Spiral of Memory: A Conversation with Elyas Alavi & Sholeh Wolpé
The fifteenth installment of our “Literature & Democracy” series was curated by NER international correspondent Ellen Hinsey. This quarterly column presents writers’ responses to the threats to democracy around the world.