F181.
My Feet, Whose Shoes? Writing and Translating “The Other”
Friday, February 9, 2024
12:10 pm to 1:25 pm
Writers and translators of fiction often put themselves in the shoes of some "other"—someone of a different culture, gender, time period. How do we understand this "other" and represent them with sincerity and respect, balancing artistic expression against a risk of cultural appropriation? The Armenian author and translators from French and Yiddish of three books with cross-cultural themes, all newly released in English, explore the line between "writing what you know" and depicting "the other."
Participants
Alison M. Lewis has been a publishing professional for more than a dozen years. She is currently the publisher and editor-in-chief at Frayed Edge Press, a small independent press located in Philadelphia.
Areg Azatyan is an Armenian writer of six fiction books. His books have been published by leading publishing houses in Armenia. He received a President’s Prize for the Best Writer of the Year (2004) as well as several international and national awards. As a filmmaker, he participated in the Berlinale, Toronto, and Cannes film festivals.
Laura Nagle is a freelance writer and translator based in Indiana. She is a 2020 ALTA Travel Fellow and the translator of Prosper Mérimée’s notorious 1827 hoax, Songs for the Gusle. Her translations of short prose and poetry from French, Spanish, and Irish have appeared in numerous journals.
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is a poet, writer, and Yiddish literary translator. His most recent translations from the Yiddish are Dineh: an Autobiographical Novel by Ida Maze and Blessed Hands: Stories by Frume Halpern. Taub lives in Washington, DC. His website: https://yataubdotnet.wordpress.com.
