Upcoming Translation Events July 2023

From L-R: "My Men" by Victoria Kielland, translated by Damion Searls; "Kappa" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, translated by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda and Allison Markin Powell; "The Child and the River" by Henri Bosco, translated by Joyce Zonana

Saturday, July 1:

Joyce Zonana and Alyson Waters on Translating Henri Bosco | Join translators Joyce Zonana and Alyson Waters at Unnameable Books for a discussion on translating Henri Bosco's The Child and the River. In-person. Hosted by Unnameable Books and the New York Review of Books. More info here. 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Monday, July 3:

Bristol Translates Keynote Conversation 2023: Translator Activism | How can small acts transform the translation landscape? What does it take to map that landscape? And if translating is ‘writing in company’, then how do we nurture an interconnected community where new ideas and initiatives can take hold? These are some of the questions that translators Daniel Hahn and Sarah Ardizzone will explore in their keynote conversation – focusing on specific examples and case-studies. They will then be joined by special guests: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, who co-founded Cassava Republic to ‘change the way the world thinks about African writing’, and Layla Mohamed, assistant editor at Cassava. Bibi and Layla will share their experiences working on their first title in translation. There will be a short Q&A at the end. Virtual. Hosted by Bristol Translates. More info here. 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (ET) 

 

Thursday, July 6:

Book Presentation by Christopher Atamian of the newly released translation of the novel Trashland by Denis Donikian | The Zohrab Center invites you to a book presentation and reading from Christopher Atamian’s newly-released translation of the novel Trashland by Denis Donikian at the Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center on Thursday, July 6th at 7:00pm. In-person. Hosted by the Zohrab Center. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Friday, July 7:

Book Launch: The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays, edited by Tenzin Dickie | Join us to celebrate The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays, with a reading and Q&A by Pema Bhum Tenzin Dickie, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Lekey Leidecker, and Jamyang Norbu. In-person. Hosted by High Asian. More info here. 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. (ET)

 

Sunday, July 9:

A Celebration of Poetry and Translation at Ledbury | The Poetry Translation Centre is delighted to bring two new publications to Ledbury: I Will Not Fold These Maps by internationally acclaimed Bidoon poet Mona Kareem and A Friend’s Kitchen by Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi. Both originally written in Arabic and presented in English for the first time, these bilingual collections overlap in language and theme but have a distinct identity of their own. Join them and their translators Sara Elkamel, Bryar Bajalan and Shook, for a morning of moving bilingual readings and in-depth exploration of their work. Hybrid (in-person and virtual, live-streamed on Zoom). Hosted by the Poetry Translation Centre. More info here. Starts at 5:00 a.m. (ET)

 

Tuesday, July 11:

In Translation: Victoria Kielland, Damion Searls, and Merve Emre on My Men | Join us as we welcome writer Victoria Kielland and translator Damion Searls to discuss My Men, Kielland’s novel based on the true story of America’s first female serial killer from the 19th Century, Belle Gunness. This dense, lyrical, and highly figurative novel charts Gunnes’s descent into madness as she struggles to attain the American dream. This is not a true crime narrative, but rather one that looks at violence as a form of agency during a time when women did not have material comforts without men. Author and journalist Merve Emre (Paraliterary: The Making of Bad Readers in Postwar America) will lead Kielland and Searls in a conversation about the process of writing and translating fiction based on the unraveling of an enigmatic historical figure. Hybrid (in-person and virtual). Hosted by the Center for Fiction, presented in partnership with the Norwegian Consulate. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Wednesday, July 12:

My Men Book Talk with Victoria Kielland | Join us on July 12 for a book talk with Norwegian author Victoria Kielland on My Men, a fictional account of one broken woman’s descent into inescapable madness, out on June 27 from Astra Publishing House! Kielland will discuss her novel, which is based on the true story of Norwegian maid turned Midwestern farmwife Belle Gunness, the first known female serial killer in American history, with translator Damian Searls. In-person. Hosted by Scandinavia House. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET) 

 

Monday, July 17:

Exploring Poetry’s Geographies with Katherine Hedeen, Zoë Skoulding, Victor Rodriguez Núñez, & Michelle Gil-Montero | This program presents an engaging and unique panel, comprised of the minds behind Poetry’s Geographies: A Transatlantic Anthology of Translations. This anthology, featuring some of the most prominent poet-translators from both sides of the Atlantic, radically foregrounds the role of translators as bridge-builders and activists, with a crucial role in revealing the structures through which poetry moves and circulates. Born amid the shutting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Poetry’s Geographies celebrates the community of translation. The anthology is organized around the translators (rather than the poets), with essays discussing the poetics and politics of their translations. Instead of adhering to a roadmap laid out by pre-existing works, this anthology forms unruly geographical lines of connection rather than underscoring existing national canons. As a result, Poetry’s Geographies is able to shape new understandings of contemporary poetry’s transnational commitments. Hybrid (in-person and virtual). Hosted by City of Asylum. More info here. 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. (ET)

 

Thursday, July 20:

Book Launch + Poetry Reading with Molly Zhu | Join Molly Zhu in celebrating the book launch of her first chapbook, Asian American Translations, followed by a reading with fellow poets Anna Winham, Blake Z. Rong, Darius Phelps, Hannah Meyer, Chelsea Fanning, Raza Ayoob, India Gonzalez, Ryan Cook, Tiffany Troy, Mickey Greaves, Rob Chen, Carlos Jiminez Jr., and Morgan Boyle at the Housing Works Bookstore. In-person. Hosted by Housing Works Bookstore. More info here. 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

This July, AAWW presents contemporary translators Jennifer Shyue and Michelle Har Kim in a conversation moderated by translator Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda, following their respective recent publications that bridge literary spheres and allow us access to the acclaimed works of two Peruvian writers. One of Peru’s most revered contemporary poets, José Watanabe’s poetry collection Natural History is a contribution to ongoing cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary conversations about language, nature, and Asian migration across the Americas. For the first time, it is available in a dual-language edition that features both Spanish and English in Michelle Har Kim’s translation. Born to immigrants from Okinawa and raised in Lima’s working-class center, Augusto Higa Oshiro was a Peruvian writer and member of Peru’s Grupo Narración, a group of writers focused on realist, working-class fiction in the 1970s. His novella, The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu, is translated from Spanish by Jennifer Shyue and is his first book to be translated into English. Virtual. Hosted by the Asian American Writers' Workshop. More info here. RSVP here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Friday, July 28:

Kappa with Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda at Molasses Books | Translator Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda will read from Kappa at Us&Them's writer-translator reading event, held quarterly at Ridgewood's own Molasses Books. The Kappa is a creature from Japanese folklore known for dragging unwary toddlers to their deaths in rivers: a scaly, child-sized creature, looking something like a frog, but with a sharp, pointed beak and an oval-shaped saucer on top of its head, which hardens with age. In-person. Hosted by Molasses Books. More info here. Starts at 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Us&Them: A Writer/Translator Reading Series | Us&Them gives literary translators with parallel careers as writers a place to showcase both sides of their work. For Summer 2023, Mirene Arsanios, Padma Viswanathan, Isabella Corletto, Allison Markin Powell & Lisa Hofmann-Kurodawill be reading. In-person. Hosted by Molasses Books. More info here. Starts at 8:00 p.m. (ET) 

 

Saturday, July 29:

Vehicle Editions at the NYC Poetry Festival | Vehicle Edition presents Annabel Lee, Victor Bockris, Jeff Wright, and Tom d'Egidio, at the NYC Poetry Festival on Saturday, July 29, at the Beckett Stage. In-person. Hosted by the New York City Poetry Festival. More info here. 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Sunday, July 30:

Poetry in Translation: A Reading at the 2023 NYC Poetry Festival | Join members of PEN America’s Translation Committee on the Brinkley stage at this year’s New York City Poetry Festival. The 30-minute reading will feature the work of award-winning authors and translators Nancy Naomi Carlson, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, Mary Ann Newman, and Esperanza Hope Snyder. In-person. Hosted by the New York City Poetry Festival. More info here and here. 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. (ET)