Upcoming Translation Events (Virtual & In-Person): March 2025
Tuesday, March 4:
Crosswords: Joseph Luzzi and Vita Nuova | Celebrate a new translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova from writer and professor of Italian literature Joseph Luzzi. Part love story, part instruction manual, part spiritual journey, Dante’s “little book,” the Vita Nuova has had a profound and far-reaching influence on global culture and is considered by many to be the perfect expression of the medieval ideal of courtly love, as well as an essential precursor to Dante’s sublime poetic apotheosis, the Divine Comedy. Luzzi will read from his approachable new translation and discuss the impact of Dante’s verse on world literature, followed by a brief opportunity for audience Q&A. Virtual. Hosted by Poets House. More info here. 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Translation: Traveling Beyond Our Own Times, Places, and Minds | In translating, we travel beyond our own minds and lived experiences to meet others—authors, epochs, places documented on, or erased from, maps of the universe. The act of translation is, at its heart, social and political. As we bring a text from one language to another, we may find that we too are transformed. In this lecture/reading/workshop, we will delve into these matters together; and, along the way, we’ll do some exercises to get you started on your own translations. In-person. RSVP required. Hosted by Bard NYC. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Wednesday, March 5:
Conversation with Lin King, 2024 National Book Award Winner | The Program of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies at Barnard invites you to join us for a conversation with writer and translator Lin King, winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature (Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuangzi, Graywolf Press) and winner of the 2018 PEN/Robert J. Dan Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. In-person. RSVP required. 4:10 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Friday, March 7:
Against the Grain: Gender and the Fraught Politics of Translation in Persophone Worlds: Not Your Usual Resistance | Habibe Jafarian and the translator of her work, Salar Abdoh, will discuss the advent of the contemporary personal essay form in Iran, its relation to the larger direction of her work as an editor and biographer, and the politics of its translation. This hybrid event will be conducted in conversation with Professor Mana Kia and focus on how Jafarian’s work articulates the experiences and perspectives of a professional woman in Iran that are often in contrast to usual representations in English. Registration required. Hosted by the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University. Hybrid (in-person and virtual). More info here. Starts at 12:00 p.m. (ET)
Us&Them Spring Reading | A writer-translator reading, with original writing and new translations. Us&Them reading series gives literary translators with parallel careers as writers a place to showcase both sides of their work. Readings are hosted four times a year at Molasses Books in Bushwick. Hosted by Us&Them. In-person. More info here. Starts at 8:00 pm (ET)
Monday, March 10:
Monika Rinck & Eugene Ostashevsky: "On Space: Freeway to Hell" | The Department of German at NYU and Deutsches Haus at NYU will present “On Space: Freeway to Hell” with the NYU Department of German's DAAD Chair for Contemporary Poetics, Monika Rinck, and the poet and translator Eugene Ostashevsky. In her long poem “HÖLLENFAHRT” (“Freeway to Hell,” translated by Nicholas Grindell), Monika Rinck explores automobile death drives and other underworld journeys. After the reading Monika Rinck will talk with the renowned poet and translator Eugene Ostashevsky on poetic space. In-person. Hosted by Deutsches Haus at NYU. RSVP required. More info here. 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Tuesday, March 11:
Malaparte: A Biography with Author Maurizio Serra | A discussion of Malaparte: A Biography, with author Maurizio Serra and translator Stephen Twilley. Curzio Suckert (1898–1957)—best known by his pen-name Malaparte—was not only a literary master but one of the mystery men of twentieth-century letters. Serra and Twilley are joined in conversation by Andrea Capra, postdoctoral fellow and Italian studies scholar at Princeton University, and Franco Baldasso, Assistant Professor of Italian and Director of Italian Studies at Bard College. In-person. Hosted by NYU Casa Italiana. More info here. Starts at 6:30 p.m. (ET)
Mark Polizzotti and Christian Lorentzen on Jean Echenoz’s Command Performance | Mark Polizzotti, the translator of the NYRB Classics edition of Jean Echenoz’s Command Performance, will discuss the book with writer and critic Christian Lorentzen at Community Bookstore. In-person. Hosted by Community Bookstore. RSVP required. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Friday, March 14:
Celebrating Elias Khoury and Mahmoud Darwish with Ammiel Alcalay and Sinan Antoon | Join Archipelago Books in celebrating the lives of Elias Khoury (1948–2024) and Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008), two of the most revered practitioners of Arab literature and unwavering advocates for social justice and the Palestinian cause. Translators Ammiel Alcalay and Sinan Antoon come together to speak about their exceptionally rich lives and work. Ammiel Alcalay is a poet, novelist, translator, essayist, critic, and scholar, and Distinguished Professor at Queens College, CUNY, and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York. Sinan Antoon is a poet, novelist, translator, and scholar; he is Associate Professor at the Gallatin School, New York University, and co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya. In-person. Hosted by Archipelago Books. More info here. 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Tuesday, March 18:
NYU Center for the Humanities: The Politics of Translation | Madhu H. Kaza, Matvei Yankelevich, Emily Apter, Maria Jose Zubieta, and Simon Leser explore the political potential and the constraints of translation especially in our time. Is translation inherently political? Or is it simply the transfer of knowledge and meaning from one language to others? What does it mean to translate texts that traverse languages and nations and also cultures and class? How can translation serve as a tool for liberation, and conversely, in what ways might it hinder understanding? In-person. Hosted by the NYU Center for the Humanities. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Monday, March 24:
VOICES with Lydia Liu, Jennifer Shyue, and Brandon Woo Snyder | Join us for a very special evening of collaborative poetry and music—live, unrepeatable, and in the moment. Let’s create something true together. Lydia’s new poetry chapbook The problem of deer (Finishing Line Press) and Jen’s translation of Julia Wong Kcomt A Blind Salmon (Deep Vellum) will be available for purchase. In-person. Hosted by the Microscope Gallery. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Tuesday, March 25:
Voices of Africa: Multilingualism in African Theatre | Join lanaire Aderemi, JC Niala, and Siana Bangura as they explore how African theatre practitioners use multilingualism to enrich storytelling and cultural expression. African theatre is intrinsically multilingual, reflecting a rich tapestry of around 3,000 indigenous languages alongside colonial tongues like English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish, which together shape the power and dynamism of performances. Virtual. Hosted by the African Women Playwrights’ Network–Diaspora. More info here. Starts at 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (ET)
Thursday, March 27:
Every Work Has Several Faces: A Conversation with Yoko Tawada about Writing and Translation | Every Work Has Several Faces: A Conversation with Yoko Tawada about Writing and Translation, Co-Moderated by Writing Professor Rivka Galchen ‘06 and Literary Translation at Columbia (LTAC) Director, Susan Bernofsky. International literary luminary Yoko Tawada, born in Tokyo, lives in Berlin and publishes novels, stories, essays, poems, and plays in both Japanese and German as well as translating between these languages. She has received dozens of literary awards including the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, the Goethe Medal, the Kleist Prize, and the National Book Award. Some of her major works available in English include The Emissary and Scattered All Over the Earth, translated from Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani, and Memoirs of a Polar Bear and Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel, translated from German by Susan Bernofsky. In-person. Hosted by the Lenfest Center of the Arts. More info here. 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (ET)
If you have an upcoming literary translation event and you'd like us to feature it on our website, please fill out this form.