Dying in a Mother Tongue

CMES Emerging Voices from the Middle East

by Roja Chamankar, Blake Atwood (Translation)

This collection of poetry by the celebrated southern Iranian poet and filmmaker Roja Chamankar (b. 1981) introduces English-speaking readers to one of the most accomplished and well-loved poets of her generation. Chamankar’s work blends surrealism and the southern coastal landscape of the poet’s upbringing with everyday experiences in rapidly urbanizing Tehran. While locating herself in the modernist tradition of Iranian poets like Forugh Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamlu through form and imagery, Chamankar infuses this tradition with concerns unique to a generation that grew up in post-revolutionary Iran and endured the effects of the Iran-Iraq war. Seascapes, love and eroticism, the disconnection of modern life, and myths and fairytales figure prominently in these vivid, lyrical poems.

In the rich miniature worlds of Chamankar’s poetry, readers become privy to a range of experiences, from desire and pain to rage and humor. Sometimes abstract, other times surreal—Chamankar’s unique poetic voice, like the sea she returns to again and again, combines and sweeps these experiences to shore with assurance, strength, and beauty.

Genres: Poetry, Iran

80 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2018

Reviews

[Sonja]

I would give Roja Chamankar 5 stars for her poetry because I believe it must be great. I don’t think the translation captures the spirit of her poetry because I could not feel it. I don’t doubt the translator worked hard on these translations from Persian. I wish I could read these in the original. Sometimes translations are just inadequate. The title Dying in a Mother Tongue says a lot about the importance of the mother tongue.