This course is designed for new translators to discover what’s possible in the realm of literary translation. We will begin by studying short excerpts of groundbreaking texts in translation—including selections from Mieko Kawakami's Breasts and Eggs, translated by Sam Bett, and David Boyd and Getting Lost by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer—and then build toward crafting our own short translations within a collaborative and expansive workshop.
In the workshop portion of the course, students will engage in a series of writing exercises to familiarize themselves with the nuances of translation and to begin to experiment with creative and nontraditional translation methods. After selecting a short text or an excerpt of a larger work to translate, students will have an opportunity to workshop their translations to work toward a polished product at the end of the four-week course.
Jenessa Abrams is a writer, literary translator, and practitioner of Narrative Medicine. Her fiction, literary criticism, and creative non-fiction has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, Tin House, Electric Literature, Guernica, BOMB Magazine, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships and grants from MacDowell, the Ucross Foundation, the Norman Mailer Center, the Vermont Studio Center, the New York Public Library, and Columbia University, where she earned her MFA in fiction and literary translation. She has taught writing at Columbia University, Catapult, Rutgers University, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center.
Jenessa is new to The Porch. Welcome!
