Mojdeh Bahar is the editor and translator of the anthology Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women, 1960-2023. She is also a patent attorney and technology transfer professional, and she lives in the Washington, D.C., area.
Q: How did you choose the poets to include in your new expanded anthology?
A: My choices of poets and their respective poems were guided primarily by my heart. I needed a personal connection to a poem before I could take on its translation.
In choosing the poems I had several goals in mind: to provide access to English speakers to poets that they may not yet know, to showcase a variety of themes, to highlight poems whose context was readily understood or explained.
It’s important to note that this is not meant to be an exhaustive compilation including all contemporary Iranian women poets, rather a collection of poems whose essence I related to and could convey through translation.
Q: What do you see as the role of women in Iranian literature today--both within and outside of Iran?
A: Though women have always been active in literary endeavors, their work has been marginalized throughout history.
Fortunately, the past century has witnessed a marked increase in the number of Iranian women as literary critics, authors, playwrights and poets. Their poetry is a reflection of the times and serves as a medium to chronicle their thoughts and feelings, to serve as their refuge and to describe their predicament.
My goal was to amplify and celebrate their voices by opening the door to a new audience, English speakers.
Q: Among the various poems in the collection, do you see any particular themes you’d like to highlight?
A: Nostalgia, longing, womanhood, love, loss, home, freedom, and friendship.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from this collection?
A: I hope that the poems will resonate with the reader. I hope that the reader will:
1. find common themes between the poetry of Iranian women and those appearing in the poetry of women poets globally
2. have a more nuanced appreciation for Iranian women poets, their artistic endeavors, challenges, strength, and resilience. I hope the reader will appreciate the diversity of Iranian women, and resist the monolithic classification often ascribed to them.
The book showcases 104 women poets. About one third of the poets live in Iran, a third in North America, about a third in Europe and the remainder live in Australia.
These women represent many different professions in addition to their poetic life: they are authors, artists, physicians, engineers, educators, activists, psychologists, translators, researchers, playwrights, rock climbers, social workers, filmmakers, and literary critics.
I hope that the collection highlights multiple diversities: thematically, geographically, ideologically, esthetically, and temporally.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am trying my hand at translating from English to Persian.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: It may be useful to explain the title of the book. Iranian Ground Jay (Podoces pleskei) is a bird from the crow family, and one of two birds endemic to Iran. It lives in the desert and its coloring is perfectly adapted to its habitat, allowing it to blend in. Though it is sand colored when on the ground, when in flight it has beautiful black and white wingtips.
One of its distinguishing features is its strong and muscular legs, enabling it to walk and run long distances. Its beautiful song distinguishes it from other members of the crow family.
To me it is a powerful symbol of survival, the ability to at once adapt to one’s environment and distinguish oneself through song and strength…in short it is a symbol of Iranian women.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. NOTE: Some of the answers in this interview can also be found in the introduction to the book.
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