Posted July 20, 2009 - Prof. Sassan Tabatabai's work as a translator has been featured on the website of PEN American Center, in the first of a series of "Translation Slams" intended to showcase the art of translation by juxtaposing in a public forum two “competing” translations of a single work.

Prof. Tabatabai's translation is of a political slogan devised by protesters who took to the streets of Iran this year after results of the June presidential elections were announced. The slogan refers directly to an insult levied at protesters by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadineja, who referred to them as khas-o-khaashaak, meaning dirt and dust, scraps and bits. The structure of this slogan -- I am / you are -- recalls a ghazal included in the collection Divaan-eh Shams by Rumi, the classic 13th century Persian poet who is generally considered one of the foremost figures in Iranian literary history and is known for celebrating love in his poetry. That slogans in the current protests in Iran are being based on poems bears witness to the extent to which poetry plays a role in the Iranian upbringing and consciousness. Prof. Tabatabai's version of the protest slogan ends with a statement of resolute determination: "I am brave, I am bold, I am the lord / of this land."

The translations, by Prof. Tabatabai and Niloufar Talebi, can be seen beside the Persian/Farsi text of the protest poem at the PEN American Center website.

PEN American Center is the U.S. branch of the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 in direct response to the ethnic and national divisions that contributed to the First World War. PEN American Center was founded in 1922 and is the largest of the 144 PEN centers in 101 countries that together compose International PEN.