Post-21st October conference pictures Cole Swensen and Jennifer K Dick

L-R: Cole Swensen, Jennifer k Dick, Christine Bertin, Laetitia Sansonetti

L-R: Cole Swensen, Jennifer k Dick, Christine Bertin, Laetitia Sansonetti

Last week was full of excitement: And here are 2 pictures as the evening on 22nd Oct 2015 of reflection on "Poets who translate and self-translate" AT: TRILL research group, Université de Paris X: Nanterre wound down. Cole Swensen and I were honored to be invited by TRILL and seminar organizers Laetitia Sansonette and Christine Bertin who run a series of guest talks for Paris Nanterre University on various aspects of translation. They are also organizing what looks to be a great conference for January 8th 2016.  For the 21st of Oct, Cole and I decide to each propose and present a few "key" thoughts on translation in general, then we did "readings" of specific issues and poems that the other author had self-translated. 

     I did a little comparison-contrast of Cole's own translations of some of her poems form her most recent collection: Landscapes from a train (Nightboat books) and the translation of those same poems that have been done by Nicholas and Mai Pesques. 

     Cole discussed the issues of sound translation vs re-writing and neologism uses and possibilities in my work from the "Traces de son amant qui s'en va" show last spring in Mulhouse. 

     As the evening wound down, I left full of new ideas and reflections on the processes and issues for myself as a writer-translator and I hope that the faculty members and graduate students we met enjoyed the evening seminar as much as I did.