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

From L-R: A WOMAN LOOKS OVER HER SHOULDER by Brynja Hjálmsdóttir, trans. Rachel Britton; GREAT FEAR ON THE MOUNTAIN by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, trans. Bill Johnston

Thursday, January 9:

A Woman Looks Over Her Shoulder: Brynja Hjálmsdóttir in Conversation with Rachel Britton | Icelandic author Brynja Hjálmsdóttir and the translator Rachel Britton discuss A Woman Looks Over Her Shoulder and their translation process. These surreal, visceral, and somehow polite poems explore what it can be like to be a woman and to slither through and away from threat to find voice and form and power, no matter how strange. The apocalyptic utopia we arrive at in this book—The Whore’s City—is a perfect model to move to in one’s head: feminist, funny, odd, and a little disgusting, all towards transformation. In-person. Hosted by Scandinavia House. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)


Tuesday, January 14: 

Multipli Forti: Voices from Contemporary Italian Literature | A literary festival showcasing contemporary Italian authors, translators, and editors to promote contemporary Italian literature within the world of international publishing. The event includes discussions on the Italian literary scene, with a focus on diversity and the latest literary trends. Featured authors include Donatella Di Pietrantonio and Matteo Nucci, and featured translators include Brian Robert Moore. Some of the discussions are: From Italian Language to the World: Journey to the USA and Traveling books. Dynamics of the Publishing Market between Italy and the United States. In-person. Hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. More info here. All day event.

New Swedish Poetry: Virtual Book Talk with Katarina Frostenson and Ann Jäderlund | Join us for a virtual book talk on Katarina Frostenson’s The Space of Time (Songs and Formulae), (Threadsuns Press, October 2024) and Ann Jäderlund's Lonespeech (Nightboat Books, May 2024). Frostenson's translator Brad Harmon and Jäderlund's translator Johannes Göransson will be joined by moderator Robin Myers for readings and discussions. Virtual. Hosted by Scandinavia House. More info here. Starts at 2:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Tuesday, January 15:

Multipli Forti: Voices from Contemporary Italian Literature | A literary festival showcasing contemporary Italian authors, translators, and editors to promote contemporary Italian literature within the world of international publishing. The event includes discussions on the Italian literary scene, with a focus on diversity and the latest literary trends. Featured authors include Donatella Di Pietrantonio and Matteo Nucci, and featured translators include Brian Robert Moore. Some of the discussions are: From Italian Language to the World: Journey to the USA and Traveling books. Dynamics of the Publishing Market between Italy and the United States. In-person. Hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. More info here. All day event.

Nostalgia for All Impossible Things: A Sonic Ritual by Italian Poet Mariangela Gualtieri | In her first US performance in over 40 years, Italian poet Mariangela Gualiteri will recite her poems in what she calls a “rito sonoro,” followed by a reading by Olivia Sears of her translations of the poems and a discussion of the poetry by Natasha Trethewey. In-person. Hosted by the Center for the Art of Translation. More info here. Starts at 6:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Thursday, January 16:

Multipli Forti: Voices from Contemporary Italian Literature | A literary festival showcasing contemporary Italian authors, translators, and editors to promote contemporary Italian literature within the world of international publishing. The event includes discussions on the Italian literary scene, with a focus on diversity and the latest literary trends. Featured authors include Donatella Di Pietrantonio and Matteo Nucci, and featured translators include Brian Robert Moore. Some of the discussions are: From Italian Language to the World: Journey to the USA and Traveling books. Dynamics of the Publishing Market between Italy and the United States. In-person. Hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. More info here. All day event.

Lawrence Venuti and Michael Wood on Dino Buzzati's The Bewitched Bourgeois | Dino Buzzati was a prolific writer of stories, publishing several hundred over the course of forty years. In The Bewitched Bourgeois, Lawrence Venuti has put together an anthology that showcases Buzzati’s short fiction from his earliest stories to the ones he wrote in the last months of his life. In-person. Hosted by McNally Jackson. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

Theresia Walser's Endless View | Voyage Theater Company and Goethe-Institut New York present a staged reading of Endless View by Theresia Walser, translated from German (Endlose Aussicht) by Neil Blackadder. In-person. Hosted by Goethe-Institut New York. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)

 

Friday, January 17: 

Bill Johnston presents Great Fear on the Mountain by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz | A haunting, allegorical Swiss masterpiece centered around a posse of villagers as they brave dark elements to ascend a mountain, thicketed with lore. Bill Johnston, an award-winning translator from French, captures the careful and sublime twists and turns of the original in his breathtaking translation. Johnston, a professor at Indiana University, has translated numerous works from Polish and French, including Giono and Różewicz. In-person. Hosted by Community Bookstore. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Friday, January 24:

Us&Them: A Writer/Translator Reading Series Winter 2025 | We hope you'll join us for the Winter 2025 edition of the Us&Them reading series. Featuring original work and translations from the following readers: Sylvia Gorelick reads Lourdes Casal (Cuba), Yasmine Seale reads Ibn Hazm (Al-Andalus), Garrett Phelps reads Osvaldo Lamborghini (Argentina), and Janet Lee shares a reflection "On Translating Joséphine by Jean Rolin" (France). In-person. Hosted by Molasses Books. More info here. Starts at 8:00 p.m. (ET) 

 

Saturday, January 25:

World in Verse: An Evening of International Poetry | Words Without Borders invites you to a virtual multilingual reading and celebration of international poetry in translation, in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. Featuring Joshua Edwards, Lynn Xu, Yang Licai, Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Katrine Øgaard Jensen '17, Stine An, and Yoo Heekyung, whose poems were selected by judge Sawako Nakayasu as part of a special initiative between Words Without Borders and Poets.org’s Poem-a-Day series for National Translation Month 2024. We look forward to convening virtually with you and these fantastic translators and poets based around the world. Virtual. Hosted by Words Without Borders. More info here and here. Starts at 3:00 p.m. (ET)

 

Tuesday, January 28:

The 2025 Albertine Translation Prize Ceremony | On January 28, the Albertine Translation Prize Ceremony honors the translators and publishers who bring the richness of contemporary French literature to English-speaking audiences. This annual celebration spotlights emerging trends across fiction, non-fiction, comics, and a variety of genres, supported by the Albertine Translation Fund, which helps U.S. publishers bring these works to life. Join us to celebrate the winners and mingle with them during a special cocktail reception afterward! In-person; free with RSVP. Hosted by Albertine. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (ET)

The Johns Hopkins Translation Collective presents: Emerging Translators, Emerging Scholars Reading & Roundtable | Join four early-career scholar-translators—Jon Cho-Polizzi, Spencer Lee-Lenfield, Olivia Lott, and Bradley Harmon—as they read from their recently published book translations and discuss the ins and outs of balancing and integrating their scholarly research with their translation practice. Moderated by Joey Reisberg. Virtual via this Zoom link. Hosted by the Johns Hopkins Translation Collective. 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (ET)

Luke Leafgreen with Ammiel Alcalay | Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith for a virtual event with translator Luke Leafgren to discuss and honor the release of The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom by Nasser Abu Srour. He will be in conversation with writer, translator, and scholar Ammiel Alcalay. Virtual Hosted by Brookline Booksmith. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)

 

 

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