Translating the Future

Thu, Oct 1, 2020

12:00 AM–12:00 AM

Tue, May 12, 2020 – Fri, Sep 25, 2020

Translating the Future launched with weekly hour-long online conversations with renowned translators throughout the late spring and summer and will culminate in late September with several large-scale programs, including a symposium among Olga Tokarczuk’s translators into languages including English, Japanese, Hindi, and more.

The conference, co-sponsored by PEN America, the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center CUNY, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, with additional support from the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center & HowlRound Theatre Commons, commemorates and carries forward PEN’s 1970 World of Translation conference, convened by Gregory Rabassa and Robert Payne, and featuring Muriel Rukeyser, Irving Howe, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and many others. It billed itself as “the first international literary translation conference in the United States” and had a major impact on US literary culture.

The conversations are hosted by Esther Allen & Allison Markin Powell.

PROGRAM

WEEK 1: Tue, May 12, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

From 1970 to 2020: Translation Transformations

David Bellos in conversation with Karen Emmerich (with snippets from the original audio archive of the World of Translation conference). Watch the video of this conversation below:

WEEK 2: Tue, May 19, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Uncertain Present

Madhu Kaza in conversation with Lina Mounzer. Watch the video for this conversation below:

WEEK 3: Tue, May 26, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Global Ecopoetics: Poetry, Translation, Climate Change & Public Health

Forrest Gander in conversation with Raquel Salas Rivera. Watch the video for this conversation below:

WEEK 4: Tue, June 2, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Children’s Literature in Translation

Lawrence Schimel in conversation with Daniel Hahn, and moderated by Lyn Miller-Lachmann.

WEEK 5: Tue, June 9, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

A Manifesto For Our Time

A conversation with Elizabeth Lowe, Matthew Harrington and Larissa Kyzer.

WEEK 6: Tue, June 16, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Translating Plays and Playing With Translation

Aya Ogawa in conversation with Jeremy Tiang. Watch the video recording of this conversation here:

WEEK 7: Tue, June 23, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Motherless Tongues, Multiple Belongings I

Jeffrey Angles and Mónica de la Torre in conversation; moderated by Bruna Dantas Lobato. Watch the video recording of the conversation here:

WEEK 8: Tue, June 30, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

“Queer Literature, Queer Legacies: Looking Toward the Future of LGBTQ Translation”

Achy Obejas and Sean Gasper Bye in conversation; moderated by Elizabeth Rose.

WEEK 9: Tue, July 7, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

21st-Century Translation: What Has the Future Brought Us?

With Gabriella Page-Fort, Karen M. Phillips, and Chad W. Post

WEEK 10: Tue, July 14, 10:00 a.m. (EDT):

Subtitling Subtleties

With Darcy Paquet, Linda Hoaglund, and Xiaolu Guo

WEEK 11: Tue, July 21, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Motherless Tongues, Multiple Belongings II

With Boris Dralyuk, Eric Tsimi, and Rajiv Mohabir

WEEK 12: Tue, July 28, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future: “Channeling Ghost Languages of Europe”

With Martin Puchner and Peter Constantine; moderated by Tess Lewis

WEEK 13: Tue, August 4, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future: “Lightning in a Bottle: A Case Study of Publishing Literary Translation”

Featuring Yoko Tawada with Margaret Mitsutani, Susan Bernofsky, Barbara Epler, Jeffrey Yang & Rivka Galchen; moderated by Stephen Snyder.

WEEK 14: Tue, August 11th, 10:00 a.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future: “Building Translator Communities and Communities for Translation”

With Paige Aniyah Morris, Shuchi Saraswat, Allison Markin Powell & M Lynx Qualey.

WEEK 15: Tue, August 18th, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

“Motherless Tongues, Multiple Belongings III”

With Janet Hong, Pierre Joris & María José Giménez

WEEK 16: Tue, August 25th, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

“Language as Polis”

With Madeleine Cohen, LaTasha Diggs & Mary Ann Newman

WEEK 17: Tue, September 1st, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

“Untranslating the Classics”

with Laurie Patton, Gopal Sukhu & Vivek Narayanan

WEEK 18: Tue, September 8th, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

“Translating Trauma”

with Ellen Elias-Bursac, Aaron Robertson and Julia Sanches, moderated by Queenie Sukhadia

WEEK 19: Tue, September 15th, 12:00 p.m. (EDT):

“Activist Translation”

with Anton Hur, Sevinç Türkkan, and Jen Hofer

WEEK 20 FINALE: Tue, September 22nd, 1:30 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future Finale: “On the Elusive Art of Translation”

with Kate Briggs and Tracy K. Smith, moderated by Magdalena Edwards

Watch the video recording of this conversation here:

WEEK 20 FINALE: Wed, September 23rd, 6:00 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future Finale: “Postmonolingual New York”

with Ava Chin, Jasmine Claude-Narcisse, Lisandro Pérez and Damion Searls

WEEK 20 FINALE: Wed, September 23rd, 8:00 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future Finale at Columbia University: “Translating for a World on Fire”

with Maria Dahvana Headley and Emily Wilson, and moderated by Susan Bernofsky

WEEK 20 FINALE: Thu, September 24th, 7:00 p.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future Finale: “Democracy and Translation”

with Natalie Diaz, Marilyn Nelson, and Ken Liu

WEEK 20 FINALE: Fri, September 25th, 10:00 a.m. (EDT):

Translating the Future Finale: “A Flight of Tokarczuk Translators”

with Olga Bagińska-Shinzato, Jennifer Croft, Barbara Delfino,
Cristina Godun, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Hikaru Ogura, Pavel Peč, Lothar
Quinkenstein, Lisa Palmes, Maria Skakuj Puri, Ostap Slyvynsky, and Julia Wiedlocha, and moderated by Susan Harrris

Listen to archival audio recordings from PEN’s 1970 World of Translation conference:

History about the 1970 World in Translation conference:

Read this article about 1970 World in Translation conference, “Translators Seek More Recognition,” published in New York Times</em>; Click here or below to read the PDF:

Read the original conference program and table of contents:

This conference and conversation series is co-sponsored by PEN America, the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, with additional support from the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center.