Upcoming Translation Events (Virtual & In-Person): April 2025

Friday, April 4:

English translations of poetry from Ukraine, Russia and Russophone diaspora | Please join MUkraine, a Marshall University discussion group, for its 162nd weekly meeting. MUkraine will welcome back an international group from the Kopilka project, which was created after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022 to collect and safeguard Russophone anti-war poetry. The collection now includes texts by over three hundred poets from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and the Russophone diaspora. Anthologies of Kopilka poetry translated into French and English have been published in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Kopilka translators from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States will read their English translations of Russophone anti-war poetry, including Kopilka’s founding editor, Julia Nemirovskaya, and translators Maria Bloshteyn, Richard Coombes, Yana Kane, and Anna Krushelnitskaya. Virtual. Hosted by MUkraine. Join the livestream here. Starts at 2:00 p.m. (ET)

Aiden Farrell, George Kovalenko, and Kaitlin Rees together in person | Join us for the Spring edition of Another Way to Say readings in translation featuring Aiden Farrell (The Vitals by Marie de Quatrebarbes forthcoming from World Poetry), George Kovalenko (poetry translated from Russian by Andrey Platonov), and Kaitlin Rees (Don't Hide the Madness by Nhã Thuyên forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse). This event is a part of Another Way to Say reading series, dedicated to translations, multilingual writing and polyglot experience. In-person. Hosted by Molasses Books. More info here. 8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. (ET)

Monday, April 7:

A Virtual Discussion of Journey to the Edge of Life by Tezer Özlü | Join Maureen Freely, Merve Emre, and Ayşegül Savaş for a virtual discussion of Journey to the Edge of Life, the novel by Turkish writer Tezer Özlü, translated by Maureen Freely. RSVP required. Virtual. Hosted by Community Bookstore in partnership with Third Place Books, the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith, and Lost City Books. More info here. 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. (ET)

By the Shore of Lake Michigan: Recovering WWII Prison Camp & Resettlement Stories through Poetry | In commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Japan Society presents a book talk and signing for By the Shore of Lake Michigan, a newly translated collection of Japanese tanka poetry written by Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto, a first-generation Japanese American couple incarcerated during WWII. The event will feature speakers Nancy Matsumoto (their granddaughter), translators Mariko Aratani and Kyoko Miyabe, and scholar Eri F. Yasuhara. The poems offer a rare first-generation perspective on incarceration and resettlement, chronicling a 17-year journey from the Heart Mountain prison camp to postwar Chicago. In-person. Hosted by Japan Society. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)

Tuesday, April 8:

Tasting Translation | Language hums all around us—learned and expressed through breath, touch, taste, and memory. Join Will Harris, So Mayer, Elhum Shakerifar, and Yasmine Seale as they explore the rich embodiment of language through images like honey, apples, and snow. This conversation asks: how can translation be additive rather than reductive? How can it preserve the sounds and senses that might otherwise be lost, reconnecting us to our bodies? Part of the Visible Communities program. Virtual. Hosted by the National Center for Writing. More info here. 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Thursday, April 10:

Emerging Translator Showcase: Meet the Future of Literary Translation | Explore the outstanding work of talented Emerging Translators, graduates of the 2024–25 mentorship programme by Arts Council England. Their translations break new ground, spotlighting languages and literatures often underrepresented in English. Fresh from six months of mentoring, these translators present short introductions and readings from their projects. The event is pre-recorded and will be hosted online. Register to receive your free streaming link. You can engage with the literary translators via live chat during the showcase premiere. Virtual. Hosted by the National Center for Writing. More info here. 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (ET)

Covert Joy: Selected Stories by Clarice Lispector — Katrina Dodson in conversation with Merve Emre | From the massive treasure house of her acclaimed Complete Stories, Covert Joy is a radiant selection of Clarice Lispector’s best and best-loved stories. Lispector’s luminous regard for life’s small revelatory incidents is legendary, and her genius is concentrated in this electric, portable volume. Join translator Katrina Dodson in conversation with writer and professor Merve Emre to celebrate the release, followed by a book signing. In-person. Hosted by Rizzoli and New Directions. RSVP required. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Transletting Vol. 2 | The second NYC Transletting reading, hosted by Casa Hispanica.Transletting is curious about creative translation and translating, multitude(s) of language(s) and questioning automatization of understanding. We are about openness, for the plural, in the shared and in-between, being together. Hear from writers across the US, Germany, and Colombia translating each other’s work creatively in a multitude of languages. Hybrid (In-person and Virtual). Hosted by Transletting, at Casa Hispanica at Columbia University. More info here. 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

Monday, April 21:

Modernist and Experimental Literature from Kharkiv in Translation: A reading and Q&A with Eugene Ostashevsky, Ekaterina Derysheva, and Ian Ross Singleton | Ian Ross Singleton and Eugene Ostashevsky will read translations of Ukrainian modernists connected to Kharkiv: Mykhail Semenko, the founder of Ukrainian Futurism; Yurii Yanovsky, the author of The Shipwright (Майстер корабля), а 1920s novel about the Ukrainian film industry; and Maik Iohansen, modernist poet and fiction writer. They will be joined by the Kharkiv poet Ekaterina Derysheva, currently at U Penn, who will share her own work. In-person. Hosted by the Russian and East European Cultures at Hunter College. RSVP required. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

Tuesday, April 22:

Haleh Liza Gafori with Maya C. Popa: Water — Poems by Rumi | In celebration of National Poetry Month, The New York Public Library hosts vocalist and poet Haleh Liza Gafori for a discussion of her latest translations of Rumi's lyric poetry in Water, with prize-winning poet Maya C. Popa. Water expands on Gold, Gafori's inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi’s work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. In-person. Hosted by The New York Public Library. RSVP required. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. (ET)  

Translation as Archive | What can translation teach us about the importance of preserving cultural literature? Join Phương Anh, Nguyễn Lâm Thảo Thi, and Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng as they come together to explore the creation of archives and the ways we document and shape our futures. This wide-ranging discussion will consider who is involved in the creation of an archive—and who is often left out. Part of the Visible Communities program. Virtual. Hosted by the National Center for Writing. More info here. 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. (ET)

Cécile Wajsbrot and Tess Lewis present Nevermore, moderated by Christine Smallwood | Join author Cécile Wajsbrot and translator Tess Lewis for a discussion of Nevermore, moderated by writer Christine Smallwood. In Tess Lewis’s visionary English translation, Cécile Wajsbrot’s lyrical exploration of the role of the writer and translator becomes an exquisite meditation on loss and recovery. In-person. Hosted by Community Bookstore. RSVP required. More info here. 7:00 p.m. -  8:00 p.m. (ET)

Wednesday, April 23:

Colloquy #17: Queerness in Translation | Please join World Poetry and the New School Creative Writing Department for Colloquy #17: Translating Queerness, featuring Kira Josefsson, Julia Sanches, and Jeffrey Zuckerman. The translators will each give a reading, followed by a Q&A facilitated by Colloquy curator C. Francis Fisher. We’ll be exploring how translators bring local cultures of queerness into the American vernacular, in what way a queer translator’s personal identity might impact their work in translation, how we can characterize the work of creating an international queer canon in English, and more. Welcome remarks by J. Mae Barizo, Chair of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program. In-person. Hosted by The New School Creative Writing Department. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (ET)

To Go on Living: A book talk and a bilingual reading with Narine Abgaryan and translator Margarit Ordukhanyan | Set in an Armenian mountain village immediately after the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, Abgaryan's To Go On Living traces the interconnected lives of villagers tending to their everyday tasks, engaging in quotidian squabbles, and celebrating small joys against a breathtaking landscape. There will be a book talk and a bilingual reading from Narine Abgaryan, followed by a conversation with the author and translator Margarit Ordukhanyan. In-person. Hosted by the Russian and East European Cultures at Hunter College. RSVP required. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

Madhu Kaza on Lines of Flight with Youmna Chlala, Jacqui Cornetta, Yasmine Seale & Mónica de la Torre | BPL Presents welcomes Madhu H. Kaza who presents her latest work, Lines of Flight, with Youmna Chlala, Jacqui Cornetta, Yasmine Seale, and Mónica de la Torre. Join us for an evening of collaborative performance and experiments in error based on Lines of Flight, Madhu H. Kaza's chapbook on translation and transformation. In-person. Hosted by the Brooklyn Public Library. RSVP required. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (ET)

Thursday, April 24:

Polly Barton presents The Place of Shells in conversation with Liza St. James | Winner of the Akutagawa Prize, a masterful novel about loss and memory in the aftermath of a horrifying ecological disaster. In-person. Hosted by McNally Jackson. RSVP required. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

Rhina P. Espaillat & Francisco X. Alarcón: Ten Takes from the Letras Latinas Archive | Join Poets House and Letras Latinas for the final installment of Ten Takes from the Letras Latinas Archive. This in-person event will include a celebration of the life and work of Rhina P. Espaillat, as well as an homage to the late, queer, Chicano poet Francisco X. Alarcón. Poet and translator Urayoán Noel will provide commentary on Espaillat’s work, which will be followed by a remote reading from Espaillat herself. Poet and Letras Latinas director Francisco Aragón will comment on Alarcón, from his perspective as his long-time translator. Readings in Kray Hall and remote on Zoom followed by a reception in the Reading Room. Hybrid (In-person and Virtual). Hosted by Poets House. More info here. 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (ET) 

Wednesday, April 30:

World Poetry Launch Party | Join World Poetry at Von Bar to celebrate our six newest titles, with readings from translators Aiden Farrell, Eugene Ostashevsky, Danielle Pieratti, and Deborah Woodard, with special guest Andrei Codrescu. In-person. Hosted by World Poetry Books. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 10 p.m. (ET)

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