This is what “out like a lamb” looks like around here:
Friday, March 20:
The Bridge Series offers a special edition this month based on the work of the great early-20th-cen. Japanese poet Sakutarō Hagiwara, featuring Hiroaki Sato, Eliot Weinberger, and Forrest Gander, all three of them wonderful writers in their own right as well as literary translators. I forecast a great evening. Details here. McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St., 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 24:
I’m delighted to see the Austrian Cultural Forum New York Translation Prize return after a several-year hiatus, and even happier to see that it’s being awarded this year to Tess Lewis, for her translation of Maja Haderlap’s novel Angel of Oblivion. The award ceremony will be particularly special this year in that the translated author will also attend and participate in a joint reading from her book in English and German. The prize will be presented by Paula Deitz, editor of The Hudson Review. Seating is limited for this presentation, so it’s crucial to RSVP (and the event will be live-streamed). More information here. Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St., 7:00 p.m.
Also Tuesday, March 24:
This is not technically a translation event, but I’m listing it as an honorary one because Rivka Galchen does tend to talk translation when she interviews a foreign author, which she’s great at, and as she’ll be doing on this evening with the great, great César Aira. This one too should be standing room only. More info here. McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St., 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 25:
This one isn’t really a translation event either, but you can’t have translation without knowledge of languages, and we’re in danger of losing some of them, so voila: Mother Tongues United, a panel discussion exploring the intersections of Garifuna, Haitian Creole and Quechua as historically undervalued languages, organized by Wynnie Lamour of the Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York. A $5 donation is requested, more information here. Commons Brooklyn, 388 Atlantic Ave., 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 31:
De Traducciones y Purgatorios: a Spanish-language conversation between Chilean author Raúl Zurita and American writer Daniel Borzutzky who translates him. More information here. McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St., 7:00 p.m.
Plus some late additions that just came to my notice!
Monday, March 30:
The great Joel Agee presents his new translation of Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound with dramatic readings by actor Ron Cephas Jones. The Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway, 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 31:
Joel Agee in conversation with poet Tom Sleigh about Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, with introductory remarks by Edwin Frank. Onassis Foundation at the New York Public Library, 42nd Street Building, South Court Auditorium, 476 5th Ave., RSVP requested, more information here. 7:00 p.m.
Also Tuesday, March 31:
Book launch with essayist and translator Eliot Weinberger for Calligrams, a new series of writings from and on China edited by Weinberger. Asia Society, 8th Floor, 725 Park Ave., RSVP here. 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.