ArabLit Self-Translation issue launched

Edited by Wiam El Tamami

In this special section on self-translation, authors and author-translators Mona Kareem, Khalid Lyamlahy, Deena Mohamed, Dunya Mikhail, and Ali Shakir reflect on what it means to transport their own writing from one of their languages to another.

Lyamlahy, who also shares self-translated excerpts from his novel, calls the act of self-translation “an arduous confrontation not only with the act of re-writing but also with my language practices and preferences.”

Deena Mohamed draws her thoughts on self-translation, thinking through what it means to make her working-class characters speak in a language associated with privilege and wealth. Ali Shakir writes that he has shied away from self-translating a whole book, because, “The whole proposal would reek of desperation, and although I don’t know a single writer who is not indeed desperate, it’s not something we feel comfortable exposing in front of editors or publishers, for obvious reasons.”

Poet Dunya Mikhail, on the other hand, has translated a whole book. She says that writing a poem “the second time in another language helps me understand it more and feel more confident about it. Moreover, it gives me a wider space to diagnose its flaws.”

And poet-translator Mona Kareem reflects on the self-translators who came before, particularly Etel Adnan and Sargon Boulus, writing, “I cannot offer you any conclusions about self-translation except the mass of feelings that I carry with me day to day, text to text, encounter to encounter. The anxiety, guilt, alienation, displacement, but also the fluidity, worldliness, and awkward freshness.”

Derek Walcott’s birthday

Derek Walcott, our 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award recipient, was born on this day in 1930. To honour him, his longtime partner Sigrid Nama donated 4000 books from his library to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in Castries.

BrickYard Spoken Word – Friday Videos

Brick Books is one of the most decorated independent publishers around, with their unique all-poetry list featuring names like Margaret Avison, Parliamentary Poet Laureate Louise B. Halfe — Sky Dancer, and Karen Solie. Their books have won and been nominated for Griffin Poetry Prizes, Governor General’s Literary Awards, Trillium Book Awards, and dozens of others.

Recently, Brick announced the exciting news that they’re currently revamping their spoken word-focused Brickyard portal, which features audio and video content of everything from hip hop infused slam poetry to Cree storytelling. They’ll soon be adding interviews and tutorials on Fridays.

To offer a taste of Brickyard, Brick has put together a compilation of performances from their very first launch of the portal, an in-person event that took place in 2019, with glimpses of sets from Charlie C. Petch, Ian Keteku, Mahlikah Awe:ri, and Valentino Assenza. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy2yNJVoBss

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The Lives of the Alchemists

Charles Simic

copyright ©2004



The great labor was always to efface oneself,
Reappear as something entirely different:
The pillow of a young woman in love,
A ball of lint pretending to be a spider.

Black boredoms of rainy country nights
Thumbing the writings of illustrious adepts
Offering advice on how to proceed with the transmutation
Of a figment of time into eternity.
The true master, one of them counseled,
Needs a hundred years to perfect his art.

In the meantime, the small arcana of the frying pan,
The smell of olive oil and garlic wafting
From room to empty room, the black cat
Rubbing herself against your bare leg
While you shuffle toward the distant light
And the tinkle of glasses in the kitchen.

Notes on the Poem

Our Poem of the Week is “The Lives of the Alchemists,” from the 2005 Griffin-winning collection, Charles Simic: Selected Poems 1963–2003 (Faber and Faber). by Charles Simic.

Of the collection the judges said: “Charles Simic is something of a magician, a conjuror. Out of nothing it seems, out of thin air, the poems appear before our eyes. One apparently casual observation leads to another, and suddenly, exponentially, we are spellbound. It is a trick many have tried to imitate but few have achieved. At the centre of Simic’s art is a disarming, deadpan precision, which should never be mistaken for simplicity. Everything appears pared back to the solid and the essential, and it is this economy of vocabulary and clarity of diction which have made his poetry so portable and so influential wherever it is published.” 

Listen to Charles Simic read from Selected Poems 1963–2003 here.
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[I won’t be able to write from the grave]

Fanny Howe

copyright ©2000



I won’t be able to write from the grave
so let me tell you what I love:
oil, vinegar, salt, lettuce, brown bread, butter,
cheese and wine, a windy day, a fireplace,
the children nearby, poems and songs,
a friend sleeping in my bed—
and the short northern nights.

Notes on the Poem

Our Poem of the Week is from the 2001 Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted collection, Fanny Howe: Selected Poems (University of California Press)  by Fanny Howe.

Of the collection the judges said: “Fanny Howe’s lyric meditations on matter and spirit, the soul exiled, and the wondrous strangeness of human life on earth are akin to Dickinson’s in their fierce wit, musicality and intelligence. Gathered from nine of her books spanning more than two decades, these poems articulate the inquisitive grace and courage of a secular contemplative, restoring to language its power to question the sacred in the interests of corporeal joy.”

Listen to Fanny Howe read from Selected Poems
here.

Deadline to Apply to 2022 Writers’ Trust Mentorship Program

Are you a developing writer completing your first manuscript and seeking a mentor? Or do you know one?
Submissions are now open for the 2022 Writers’ Trust Mentorship program, which pairs established and developing writers working in fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction for one-on-one instruction.
Apply by January 10th for a chance to be mentored by Kaie Kellough, our 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize Canadian winner! More info here: writerstrust.com/Mentorship

Palm Beach Poetry Festival

18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival Virtual Workshop Applications are now open on Submittable!

Our line-up features Workshop Faculty Poets: Kim Addonizio, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, Mark Doty, Yona Harvey, John Murillo, Matthew Olzmann, & Diane Seuss.

Our Special Guest is Yusef Komunakaa; Poet-at-Large Aimee Nezhukumatathil; and Conference Faculty: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, and Angela Narciso Torres. A Special Craft Talk will be presented by Kwame Dawes. Applications open soon  for this extraordinary opportunity to attend the festival virtually.

Deadline to apply: Executive Director, Writers’ Guild of Alberta

Location: Edmonton, Alberta

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta (WGA) is seeking a dynamic, experienced Executive Director.

The successful candidate will effectively represent the WGA, its mission, its members, and its programs. The Executive Director is responsible for the successful management of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta according to the mission of the organization and the strategic direction set by the members of the organization through the Board of Directors. The position involves direct responsibility for five staff (3 full time at 35 hours a week, 2 at 21 hours a week) as well as interaction with a number of contract employees and seasonal staff.  The Executive Director works under the direction of a policy board to design, develop and implement strategic plans for the organization in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner.

Projected Salary:  $60,000 – $70,000.   Closing Date: 7 January 2022