Translation on Tap in NYC, Feb. 16 – 28, 2015

2014_phoenix_cathedral_05February has relented! Just as I was bemoaning the dearth of translation events in the earlier half of the month, all sorts of great offerings for the second half started rolling in. Feast your eyes on this!

Tuesday, Feb. 17:

The Bridge Series this month is all about 2014 Nobel laureate Patrick Modiano. A translator (Mark Polizzotti) and publisher (David. R. Godine) of his work will share the stage with Wall Street Journal fiction critic Sam Sacks to discuss the great French author, who despite receiving the prize of prizes is still too little known in this country. Moderated by Sal Robinson. Note the new Bridge venue: Albertine at 972 Fifth Ave. (between 78th and 79th St.), 7:00 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 20:

Awards Ceremony and Reception for the 2014-2015 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. This year’s awardees are Rebecca Copeland for her translation of The Goddess Chronicle and Juliet Winters Carpenter for her translation of A True Novel. Columbia University, C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Kent Hall, more information here. 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 21:

Festival Neue Literatur will be going on from Feb. 20-22 – all of it’s worth checking out – but one of the events on Feb. 21 is particularly translationtastic: Bowery Arts & Science at the Bowery Poetry Club will be hosting an FnL event cosponsored by Words Without Borders entitled “For the Love of Translation,” featuring translator + editor pairs discussing particular projects they’ve collaborated on: Tim Mohr talking with Michael Reynolds; Ross Ufberg with Michael Wise; Lisa Boscov-Ellen with Chad Post, and Translationista with Katie Raissian. Moderated by Sal Robinson. More details here. Probably not the worst idea to RSVP. 308 Bowery, 12:30 – 2:30. (Caution: the starting time given on the BPC website is wrong.)

Wednesday, Feb. 25:

Birds of Metal in Flight: An Evening of Poetry with 5+5. If you haven’t been to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Ave. in the past year, you’ve missed out on something spectacular: an incredible pair of enormous phoenixes made of scrap materials flying through the nave. It is truly a sight worth seeing, and they won’t be here much longer. And now you have a particularly good occasion to come see them: an extravaganza of a reading featuring five Chinese and five American poets (and translators): Bei Dao, Charles Bernstein, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Pierre Joris, Marilyn Nelson, Ouyang Jianghe, Afaa Weaver, Xi Chuan, Zhai Yongming, and Zhou Zan. All works will be presented bilingually (not sure whether the translating poets in the mix worked on these particular translations). And Xu Bing will be there as well. RSVP required, and I’m thinking this one is likely to fill up, so click the link soon if you’re able to attend. 1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St., 7:00 p.m.

Also Wednesday, Feb. 25:

French Night à la Modiano at the Cornelia Street Cafe, with bilingual readings from three different Patrick Modiano novels, starting with Missing Person, translated by Daniel Weissbort. The readers will include Chris Clarke reading from his translation of Modiano’s 2009 Dans le cafe de la jeunesse perdue, forthcoming from NYRB Classics, and students from NYU’s MA program in Literary Translation reading their translations of excerpts from Modiano’s 2014 Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier. More information here. 29 Cornelia Street, 6:00 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 27:

Magnificent Strangeness: An Evening with Yoko Tawada and Rivka Galchen. This event is being posted in violation of Translationista’s strict only-events-featuring-translators policy because of my utterly unabashed love of Yoko Tawada (whom I translate). I don’t want anyone to miss the chance to see her speak and perform as often as possible. And she’ll be in such good company: with Rivka Galchen as conversation partner, moderated by Alys George. This is definitely going to be a memorable evening, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. If you don’t RSVP right now, you might not get in. Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews, 6:30. p.m.

 

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