Concordia University’s International Graduate Summer School in Translation Studies Translating Each Other/Translating the Other and The Literary Translators’ Association of Canada present: Celebrating Translation: An Evening on/of Literary Translation
Panel discussion
The evening will begin with a panel of three literary translators who will discuss the role of translation in fostering cultural relations in Montreal, in Quebec, and in Canada more generally, and reflect on the perception and status of translation in today’s society.
Julia Jones is a recent graduate of Concordia’s MA in translation studies. An emerging literary translator, she attended the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in 2018. She is currently a resident at the Maison de la littérature in Quebec City, where as her first book-length project she is translating Maude Deschênes-Pradet’s novel Hivernages in collaboration with the author.
Lazer Lederhendler is an accomplished translator of contemporary Québécois fiction and non-fiction. He has been nominated several times for the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award, which he has won twice, and has been shortlisted for Scotiabank Giller Prize on two occasions: first, in 2006, for his English translation of Gaétan Soucy’s The Immaculate Conception, and again, in 2016, for his English translation of Catherine Leroux’s The Party Wall.
Chantal Ringuet is an award-winning author, scholar and translator. She has produced collections of poems (2009 Jacques-Poirier literary award), works of non-fiction on Yiddish Montreal and Jerusalem and, in cooperation with Pierre Anctil, a translation of the biography of Marc Chagall (Mon univers. Autobiographie, Fides, 2017). She has been both a writer and literary translator in residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Translation slam
The discussion will be followed by a mini-translation slam: two poet-translators, one Anglophone, the other Francophone, one experienced, the other a novice, will translate each other’s poetry and read their translations. Participants in the Summer School will have been given the opportunity to translate the same poems into the language of their choice, and will be invited to read their translations.
William Vallières is a young Montreal poet, whose first book of poetry, Versus, will be published by Véhicule Press this fall. Currently enrolled in the MA in translation studies at Concordia University, his thesis involves translating poems by avant-garde French poet Pierre Reverdy.
Chantal Ringuet (see above for bio)
A reception will follow.
Mark your calendars for Friday, June 28, 2019, 5 – 8 pm. The evening will take place in room LB 619 in the J.W. McConnell Building at 1400 De Maisonneuve West, Montreal.
See you there!