Event details
Milwaukie Poetry Series Special Event July 16, 2025 | 7:30 - 9:30 pm Ledding Library, 10660 SE 21st Ave. Milwaukie, OR 97222
Alireza Taghdarreh, an Iranian teacher and translator based in Tehran, will be returning to the Ledding Library in Milwaukie, 10660 SE 21st Ave., on Wednesday, July 16, 7:30-9 pm for a reading. He is known for translating Henry David Thoreau's Walden and other works by Thoreau, Emerson, William Powers, and Kim Stafford into Persian.
Ali is particularly recognized for translating Thoreau's Walden into Persian, making it accessible to a wider Iranian audience. He worked for ten years on this project, receiving help from Thoreau scholars and translators in the U.S., and also in Japan, Korea, and other nations. He was here nine years ago at the Pond House when his translation of Walden had just come out.
As a life goal, he aims to create literary connections between American and Iranian cultures through his translations and other writings, highlighting the shared humanity and potential for understanding between different worlds.
James Fallows describes his experience meeting Ali in Concord in The Atlantic:
An Iranian Scholar Speaks About Thoreau, at Walden Pond
No Registration Required.