Sholeh Wolpé

Abacus of Loss - A Memoir in Verse is Wolpé's 2022 genre re-defining book in which Wolpé combines several genres (memoir, poetry, and reportage) to shape and deliver her story in a philosophically pantheistic format. It does not follow the arrow of time and explores the grey areas in her (and our) inner and outer world. The outer, is her story, the inner draws us in and becomes our story too. "Though she’s tallying her—and our—collective losses (personally, culturally, and globally), Wolpé also expresses deep thankfulness for what we still have left."

Wolpe's literary translations have garnered several prestigious awards. Wolpé was named a 2020–2021 "Cultural Trailblazer" by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs. She is a Writer-In-Residence at University of California, Irvine, and lives in Los Angeles.

In 2019 Wolpé began a collaboration with composer Fahad Siadat and choreographer Andre Megerdichian which culminated in The Conference of the Birds- An Oratorio. the work garnered support form the National Endowment for the Arts, Farhang Foundation, Scripps College, among others.

Her play The Conference of the Birds (world premiere Ubuntu Theater, November 30, 2018) is an adaptation of 12th Century Sufi mystic Attar's epic poem.

A recipient of 2014 PEN Heim Translation Fund grant, 2014 Hedgebrook Residency, the 2013 Midwest Book Award, and 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation prize, Wolpé literary work includes five collections of poetry, four books of translations, three anthologies and several plays.

Robert Olen Butler lauded Wolpé's anthology, Breaking the Jaws of Silence as “a deeply humane and aesthetically exhilarating collection.” Wolpé's 2012 anthology, The Forbidden: Poems from Iran and Its Exiles, a recipient of the 2013 Midwest Book Award, includes many of Wolpé’s own translations, and was called by American poet Sam Hamil a “most welcome gift” that “embraces and illuminates our deepest human bonds and hopes.”

Wolpé’s modern translation of The Conference of the Birds by the 12th Century Iranian Sufi mystic poet "Attar", was lauded by PEN lauded as an “artful and exquisite modern translation.” About the book, W.W. Norton & Co writes: "Wolpé re-creates the intense beauty of the original Persian in contemporary English verse and poetic prose, fully capturing for the first time the beauty and timeless wisdom of Attar’s masterpiece for modern readers."

Wolpé’s translations of the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad’s selected work, Sin, was awarded the Lois Roth Persian Translation Award in 2010. The judges wrote that they “found themselves experiencing Forugh’s Persian poems with new eyes.” Alicia Ostriker praised the translations as “hypnotic in their beauty and force.” Willis Barnstone found them “extravagantly majestic,” and of such order that “they resurrect Forugh.”