Translators Note

Where do we find the intersections between translation practices and frameworks of language justice? How can the metaphors we use to talk about translation move toward language justice? In this episode, I spoke to Jen/Eleana Hofer about these questions and others, and about their work with language justice and as a translator and interpreter. Listen here, or find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. **Here are links to some of the projects and resources mentioned during the episode!Antena Aire's Language Justice Resource PageAntena Aire PamphletsRoberto Tijerina & Language JusticeJen's translation of Virginia Lucas in Shenandoah Literary Review (including the footnote read during the episode and the poem to which it belongs) ** Our theme music is by Nate Repasz; other music in the episode is by Tim Kahn.

Only a fraction of works published in translation are plays, and only a fraction of plays produced are translations, but theater is a wonderful genre that comes with its own unique set of translation challenges. Moving from late 19th- and early 20th-century American Yiddish theater to contemporary Japanese theater, Claire Breger-Belsky talks to Nahma Sandrow, Yiddish theater translator and historian, and Aya Ogawa, a playwright, director, performer, and translator from the Japanese, about translating drama. Listen here, or find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. ** Our theme music is by Nate Repasz; other music in the episode is by Tim Kahn.

People commonly picture translators, like writers, working alone with their texts. Presenting a different view, this episode explores community and the ways translators support each other and work together. Claire Breger-Belsky gets an inside look from American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) program manager and Spanish/Swedish translator Kelsi Vanada, and Julia Conrad catches up with Italian/German translator, publishing consultant, and member of multiple translation collectives Alta Price. You can find ALTA's list of translation collectives here.Listen here, or find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.**Our theme music is by Nate Repasz; other music in the episode is by Tim Kahn.

How does translation grapple with place and transport us through language? Chinese translator Jennifer Feeley joins Abby Ryder-Huth to talk about bringing a sense of Hong Kong and Cantonese speech to her translation of "Patient," a short story by Wong Yi published in 2020 by Asymptote. Wong Yi herself reads from the original, which you can read here. Later, Julia Conrad is in conversation with Persian translator Poupeh Missaghi, whose novel trans(re)lating house one (Coffee House Press, 2020) translates the city of Tehran in the wake of the city's 2009 election. They talk about how language and identity manifest in Poupeh's work both in and out of Persian, and the expansive forms translation can take. Listen here, or find us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! **To be further transported-- You can catch Wong Yi's radio show, Book Review (開卷樂) on RTHK, or as a podcast here. Jennifer Feeley's translation of Wong Yi's Cantonese-language chamber opera, Women Like Us, is also streaming as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival through the 31st of May. Grab your rice noodle rolls with sweet sauce and enjoy from wherever you are. **Our theme music is by Nate Repasz, and this episode also features music by Ketsa, Daniel Birch, and Metre.

In Episode #2 of Translators Note, we take a closer look at three translated books published this past year, and the processes, trends, and intercultural dynamics at play as a translation project enters the world.Jack Jung, translator of Yi Sang: Selected Works (ed. Don Mee Choi, Wave Books 2020) and Lizzie Buehler, translator of The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun (Counterpoint Press 2020) join producer Abby Ryder-Huth to talk about their books and the particulars of working from Korean. Later, Kendall Storey, associate editor at Catapult, gives producer Julia Conrad a behind-the-scenes look at the publishing side, and talks about editing 2020 National Book Award finalist High as the Waters Rise, by Anja Kampmann and translated by Anne Posten. **If you have a translation project you think would be a good fit for Kendall, she is acquiring literary fiction (especially innovative works attentive to language) for Catapult Books, as well as for Soft Skull Press, which is known for its edgier and often humorous house aesthetic. You can reach her at kendall.storey@catapult.co.**Translators Note would like to thank everyone who makes our show possible! Nate Repasz made our fantastic theme music, and in this episode we also hear music by Daniel Birch, and "Ariel" by Bio Unit.PS: we're on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! Listen to us and subscribe there!

In our debut episode, "The Web," producers Abby Ryder-Huth and Julia Conrad look at translation in the classroom and how it expands beyond. With guests Aron Aji, Reid Dempsey, and David Gramling, and featuring Carolyn Liu. Credits and acknowledgements:Translators Note would like to thank Nate Repasz for our rad theme music, and Luke Paisley for our logo. Music in "The Web" is excerpted from the work of Siddhartha Corsus.