Mimi Khalvati at the British Library 12 April 2011

Mimi Khalvati (born 28 April 1944) is an Iranian-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

poet.

Life and career

She was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

on 28 April 1944. She grew up on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

and was educated in Switzerland at the

University of Neuchâtel The University of Neuchâtel (UniNE) is a French-speaking university based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. The university has four faculties (schools) and more than a dozen institutes, including arts and human sciences, natural sciences, law and eco ...

, and in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the Drama Centre and the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...

. She then worked as a theatre director in Tehran, translating from English into

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and devising new plays, as well as co-founding the Theatre in Exile group. She now lives in London Borough of Hackney, and is a Visiting Lecturer at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

and a director of the London Poetry School. Khalvati was 47 when her first book was published in 1991. Its title, ''In White Ink'', derives from the work of

Hélène Cixous Hélène Cixous (; ; born 5 June 1937) is a French writer, playwright and literary critic. She is known for her experimental writing style and great versatility as a writer and thinker, her work dealing with multiple genres: theater, literary a ...

who claimed that women in the past have written "in white ink". Michael Schmidt observes that Khalvati is "formally a most resourceful poet". Khalvati is the founder of The Poetry School, running poetry workshops and courses in London, and is co-editor of the school's first two anthologies of new writing: ''Tying the Song'' and ''Entering The Tapestry''. She is also tutor at the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Cha ...

, and has taught creative writing at universities and colleges in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

of America and Britain.

Works

* ''In White Ink'' (Carcanet Press,1991) * ''Mirrorwork'' (Carcanet Press, 1995) * ''Entries on Light'' (Carcanet Press, 1997) * ''Selected Poems'' (Carcanet Press, 2000) * ''The Chine'' (Carcanet Press, 2002) * ''The Meanest Flower'' (Carcanet Press, 2007) * ''Child: new and selected poems 1991-2011'' *''The Weather Wheel'' (Carcanet Press, 2014) *"Afterwardness" (Carcanet Press, 2019)

Quotes

* "There is some poetry in the universe, in the world we live in. What poets do is to first be alive to it, and awake and receptive to it, and in love with it – I think it has a lot to do with love – and then have the wherewithal to translate that poetry that’s out there into poems, so, for me it’s an act of listening and of translating into heard and written language."

References

External links

Poetry School
website
Profile at Poetry Translation Centre, with links to poems, articles, audio and video footage

Khalvati's official websiteListen to Mimi Khalvati reading her poetry
- a British Library recording, 14 July 2008.
Profile and poems, written and audio at Poetry Archive

Second Light profile and poems

17 August 2007 * ttps://ditsomokos.com/2016/08/03/the-weather-wheel-an-interview-with-mimi-khalvati/ “The Weather Wheel”: An interview with Mimi Khalvati- 23 January 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Khalvati, Mimi 1944 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People from Tehran English women poets Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom University of Neuchâtel alumni International Writing Program alumni People from Hackney Central People from the London Borough of Hackney British expatriates in Switzerland

Life and career

Works

Quotes

References

Further reading

External links