Curious about what it takes to become a literary translator? Come to this star-studded panel discussion, including International Booker winner and UChicago alum Daisy Rockwell (Hindi-Urdu), and award-winning translators Jayasree Kalathil (Malayalam), Khairani Barokka (Indonesian), Daniel Hahn (Portuguese, Spanish, and French), and Aron Aji (Turkish) as they discuss how they started, where they are now, and everything in between. Whether you’re a beginning translator, “translation curious,” or well on your way, please come with your questions and join the conversation.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 2:00
Franke Institute,
Our distinguished panelists:
Daisy Rockwell (Hindi and Urdu) is an artist and translator living in Vermont, USA. She has translated numerous twentieth century classics into English from Hindi and Urdu, including Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas, and Khadija Mastur’s The Women’s Courtyard. Her translation of Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There was awarded the 2019 Aldo and Jeannie Scaglioni for Translation of a Literary Work, and her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand was awarded the 2022 International Booker Prize as well as the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.
Dr. Jayasree Kalathil (Malayalam) is a bilingual writer and award-winning translator of Malayalam literature. She is the author of the children’s book The Sackclothman, which has been translated into Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. Her translations havebeen awarded the Crossword Book Award for Indian Language Translation (Diary of a Malayali Madman by N. Prabhakaran, 2019); the JCB Prize for Literature (with S. Hareesh for Moustache, 2020); the V. Abdulla Memorial Translation Award; and a Jury’s Commendation for the Muse India-GSP Rao Translation Award (Valli by Sheela Tomy, 2023). Valli was also shortlisted for the 2023 National Translation Award from the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Her latest translation, Maria, Just Maria by Sandhya Mary, marks her third appearance on the longlist for the 2024 JCB Prize for Literature. As part of the global effort to #readpalestine, Jayasree has translated into Malayalam Palestinian poetry by Mahmoud Darwish, Refaat Alareer, Hiba Abu Nada, Samih al-Qasim, and Mosab Abu Toha. Originally from Malappuram district in Kerala, India, Jayasree lives in the New Forest in Hampshire, UK.
Khairani Barokka (Indonesian) is former Editor of Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT), and a writer and artist from Jakarta, with around twenty-five years of professional translation experience. Okka’s work has been presented widely internationally, and centers disability justice as anticolonial praxis, and access as translation. Among her honors, she has been MPT’s Inaugural Poet-in-Residence, a UNFPA Indonesian Young Leader Driving Social Change, an Artforum Must-See, and Associate Artist at the UK’s National Centre for Writing. Okka’s books include Indigenous Species, Rope, and Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (as co-editor). Her latest is Ultimatum Orangutan, shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize.
Daniel Hahn (Portuguese, Spanish, and French) is an award-winning writer, editor, and literary translator from the Portuguese, Spanish, and French. With over a hundred books to his name, Hahn has used his platform to advocate for translators and raise public awareness of translation. His most recent effort is the South Asian Literature in Translation (SALT) project, which seeks to address the underrepresentation of South Asian literature by Anglophone publishers.
Aron Aji (Turkish) is the Director of MFA in Literary Translation at the University of Iowa. A native of Turkey, he has translated works by Bilge Karasu, Murathan Mungan, Elif Shafak, LatifeTekin, and other Turkish writers, including Karasu’s The Garden of Departed Cats, (2004 National Translation Award); and A Long Day’s Evening, (NEA Literature Fellowship; short-list, 2013 PEN Translation Prize). His forthcoming translations include Ferid Edgü’s Wounded Age and Eastern Tales (NYRB, 2022), and Mungan’s Tales of Valor (co-translated with David Gramling) (Global Humanities Translation Prize, Northwestern UP, 2022). Aji was president of The American Literary Translators Association between 2016-2019.