Women in Translation Reading Series 2023

This August we once again celebrate Women in Translation (#WiT) Month! This reading series was initiated by blogger Meytal Radzinski in 2014 to raise awareness of translated literature by women, queer, and nonbinary authors, and promote gender and cultural diversity in literary publishing. This year, our free, virtual reading series gathers voices from across time zones for an international celebration!

Organized under the support of the PEN America Translation Committee, these events bring together three panels of translators, joined by their authors, working in a diversity of languages. The readings will be followed by brief Q&A discussions. We hope you’ll join us for these one-of-a-kind bilingual readings!

The Women in Translation Reading Series will take place on Zoom on August 3, 17, and 31, 2023. The conversations will be moderated by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Esperanza Hope Snyder, and Katherine E. Young.

Event Series Schedule

Thursday, August 3, 2023 | 1:00-3:00 PM ET

Mayada Ibrahim (trans.) and Najlaa Eltom (Arabic)
Sabrina Jaszi (trans.) and Alisa Ganieva (Russian)
Munawwar Abdulla (trans.) and Muyesser Abdul’ehed (Hendan) (Uyghur)
Cristina Pinto-Bailey (trans.) and Cristiane Sobral (Brazilian Portuguese)
Miriam Calleja (trans.) and Nadia Mifsud (Maltese)

Moderated by: Katherine E. Young

Learn more about the panelists here.

WATCH RECORDING

Thursday, August 17, 2023 | 8:00-10:00 PM ET

Wendy Call and Whitney DeVos (trans.) and Cruz Alejandra Lucas Juárez (Spanish, Tutunakú)
Kelly Zhang (trans.) and Celia Zhang Tianyi (Mandarin Chinese)
Regan Mies (trans.) and Gianna Rovere (German)
Heather D. Davis (trans.) and Kaori Fujino (Japanese)
Forrest Gander (trans.) and Jeannette L. Clariond (Spanish)

Moderated by: Nancy Naomi Carlson

Learn more about the panelists here.

WATCH RECORDING

Thursday, August 31, 2023 | 1:00-3:00 PM ET

Sharon Dolin (trans.) and Gemma Gorga (Catalan)
Jacob Rogers (trans.) and Berta Dávila (Galician)
Anne Henochowicz (trans.) and Gülnisa Erdal (Chinese, Mandarin)
Susanna Lang (trans.) and Souad Labbize (French, Algerian)
Leanne Lockwood Cvetan (trans.) and Jonë Zhitia (German)

Moderated by: Esperanza Hope Snyder

Learn more about the panelists here.

WATCH RECORDING

Moderators

Nancy Naomi Carlson’s translation of Khal Torabully’s Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude (Seagull, 2021) won the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize. Her second full-length poetry collection, as well as her co-translation of Wendy Guerra, were noted in The New York Times. Piano in the Dark (Seagull, 2023) is her latest poetry collection.

Recipient of poetry fellowships at the Gettysburg Review and the Kenyon Review, Assistant Director of Bread Loaf in Sicily and co-coordinator of the Lorca Prize, Esperanza Hope Snyder is the author of the poetry collection, Esperanza and Hope (Sheep Meadow Press) and co-translator of Wendy Guerra’s book of poetry, Delicates (Seagull Books).

Katherine E. Young is the poet of Woman Drinking Absinthe and Day of the Border Guards. She has translated Russophone prose by Anna Starobinets and Akram Aylisli and poetry from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine; awards include a 2017 NEA Translation Fellowship. She served as the inaugural Poet Laureate for Arlington, Virginia.