Translation in Our Creative Lives with Olena Jennings (via Zoom)

We will examine the way translation fits into our creative lives by discussing theory by Sawako Nakayasu, Johannes Goransson, and Susan Bernofsky. We will spend time comparing translations of both poetry and prose by looking at various translations of the same text. Translations include those by Anne Carson and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. We will talk about current projects, specifically a stanza or a paragraph you’re working on, touching upon revision. We will discuss how to place your translations into a greater context through the use of translation resources. Finally, we will talk about how to use translation to inspire your own writing through the lens of innovators such as Christian Hawkey.

Olena Jennings is the author of the poetry collection The Age of Secrets (Lost Horse Press, 2022) and the novel Temporary Shelter (Cervena Barva Press, 2021). She is a translator of collections by Ukrainian poets, Kateryna Kalytko, together with Oksana Lutsyshyna, Iryna Shuvalova, together with the author, and Vasyl Makhno.  Her translation, together with the author, of Yuliya Musakovska’s The God of Freedom was released in May 2024 from Arrowsmith Press. Her translation of Anna Malihon’s Girl with a Bullet is forthcoming from World Poetry Books. She founded and curates the Poets of Queens reading series and press.