Upcoming Translation Events May 2021
Thursday, May 6:
Virtual Book Talk: Mining the Human Spirit. Author Mariana Enriquez in conversation with translator Megan McDowell and translator and writer Daniel Hahn about Enriquez’s collection of short stories,The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, translated from the Spanish by McDowell and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Hosted by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. 7:30 pm (GMT)
Tuesday, May 11:
Virtual Book Talk: Wild Thought. A conversation with Frédéric Keck, John Leavitt and Anthony Allen about Claude Lévi Strauss and the new translation of Wild Thought (La Pensée Sauvage), translated by Jeffrey Mehlman and John Leavitt. Hosted by 192 Books. More information here. 6:00 pm (ET)
Thursday, May 13:
Virtual Poetry Reading: Outgoing Vessel and Sense Violence. A reading and discussion with Nordic poets and translators Helena Boberg, Johannes Göransson, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, and Ursula Andkjær Olsen, moderated by Paul Cunningham (The House of the Tree of Sores). Helena Boberg and Johannes Göransson will present readings of works from Boberg’s Sense Violence, now out in English translation by Göransson from Black Ocean, and Ursula Andkjær Olsen and Katrine Øgaard Jensen will present readings from Olsen’s Outgoing Vessel, now out in English translation by Jensen from Action Books. Following the readings, they will discuss new topics in Nordic poetry and translation. On Zoom. Hosted by Scandinavia House. 2:00 pm (ET)
Bilingual Poetry Reading: Join the City College of New York (CUNY), BiCoa, LAWI, and Nueva York Poetry Press for a virtual bilingual poetry reading with poets and translators, presented by Nueva York Poetry Review. More information here. 7:00 pm (EDT)
Virtual Book Talk: On Which Side of the Front Line Does the Enemy Lie? Author David Diop and translator Anna Moschovakis in conversation with author Phillipe Sands about Diop’s short novel At Night All Blood Is Black, translated by Moschovakis and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Hosted by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. 7:30 pm (GMT)
Friday, May 14:
Representation & Translation: Join Words Without Borders and City of Asylum at the Pittsburgh International Literary Festival for a virtual panel discussion with translators Bruna Dantas Lobato, Anton Hur, Paige Aniyah Morris, Aaron Robertson, and Jeremy Tiang. More information here. 7:00 pm (EDT)
Tuesday, May 18:
Virtual Book Talk: Painting Time. Join French author Maylis de Kerangal and translator Jessica Moore to discuss the launch of de Kerangal’s new novel Painting Time and the art of the translated novel. The conversation will be moderated by author and literary critic Lydia Kiesling. On Zoom. Hosted by The Center for Fiction. More information here. 1:00 pm (ET)
Thursday, May 20:
Virtual Book Talk: A Fistful of Equations. Author Benjamin Labatut and translator Adrian Nathan West in conversation with writer and translator Jay G Ying about Labatut’s novel When We Cease To Understand the World, translated from the Spanish by West and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Hosted by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. 7:30 pm (GMT)
Literary Translation Clinic: How do We Create a Philosophy of Translation? Brazilian literature translator Katrina Dodson will discuss how translators build their own constantly evolving philosophies of translation, drawing on her experience with two radically different books—Clarice Lispector’s Complete Stories and Mário de Andrade’s modernist classic Macunaíma: The Hero with No Character—each of which required making and breaking certain “rules” of translation. Dodson will be joined in conversation by translator Heather Cleary, who has translated books of fiction by Betina González, María Ospina, Roque Larraquy, and Sergio Chejfec, among others. Part of a monthly series of knowledge-sharing open sessions for literary translators and appreciators of translated works, hosted by The Center for Fiction and in collaboration with translation collective Cedila & Co. More information here. 7:00 pm (ET)
The Art of Translation: Fernanda Melchor. Mexican author and translator Fernanda Melchor and translator Sophie Hughes in conversation on the trust-fall act and art of literary translation, and the significance of a reader’s access to international perspectives. Melchor’s novel Hurricane Season, translated from the Spanish by Hughes and published by New Directions in 2020, was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize and longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award. Their conversation is moderated by Shuchi Saraswat, writer, editor, and founder of The Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith. Hosted by New Directions Publishing and the National Book Foundation. More information here. 5:00 pm (ET)
Tuesday, May 25:
Virtual Book Talk: Things We Can’t Remember, Things We Can’t Forget. Author Maria Stepanova and translator Sasha Dugdale in conversation with Allan Little about Stepanova’s In Memory of Memory, translated from the Russian by Dugdale and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Hosted by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. 7:30 pm (GMT)
Virtual Book Talk: Susan Bernofsky on Robert Walser. A conversation between writer and translator Susan Bernofsky and Thad Ziolkowski, writer and Associate Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, about Bernofsky's Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2021), the first English-language biography of Swiss author Robert Walser. Hosted by the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY Graduate Center. More information here. 6:00 pm (ET)
Wednesday, May 26:
Virtual Book Talk: The Employees. A virtual book talk on The Employees with author Olga Ravn and translator Martin Aitken. With moderator Katrine Øgaard Jensen, they’ll discuss the novel, currently out in translation from Lolli Editions and shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. Hosted by Scandinavia House. More information here. 2:00 pm (EDT)
Thursday, May 27:
Virtual Book Talk: Privilege, Tyranny and the Voices of the Unheard. Author Éric Vuillard and translator Mark Polizzotti in conversation with Amelia Gentleman about Vuillard’s The War of the Poor, translated by Polizzotti and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. Hosted by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. More information here. 7:30 pm (GMT)
Virtual Book Talk: Robert Walser and the Arts. A conversation between Susan Bernofsky, Christine Burgin, Maira Kalman, Josiah McElheny and Amy Sillman about Bernofsky's Clairvoyant of the Small: The Life of Robert Walser (Yale University Press, forthcoming 2021), the first English-language biography of Swiss author Robert Walser. Moderated by Carin Kuoni and hosted by 192 Books. More information here. 6:00 pm (ET)
If you would like us to feature your upcoming translation event, you can send us an email via this link. Please note that we only publish events in which a literary translator is among the panelists/participants.