Implosion: Has the Periphery Displaced the Center in Spanish-Language Writing?, Part 1

Periphery and center are not only seen in geographical terms, but can also include gender, identity, and Spanish as a second language. Questions to be discussed are: How has the publishing landscape changed? Is it still possible to talk about a center and periphery? What have been the main motivators of the change? In what ways has contemporary writing from Latin America altered the literary scene? Which groups/cultures/genres remain on the margins? What developments do participants foresee? Format: In the first session, participants share their experiences of translating, editing, publishing, or curating works of Spanish-language literature in different formats. The second session will address the questions given in the description and answer others raised by participants and audience members.

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Organizers

Christina MacSweeney is a translator whose work has been recognized with many awards. She has translated books by Valeria Luiselli, Daniel Saldaña París, Elvira Navarro, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Julián Herbert, Jazmina Barerra, and Karla Suárez, and has contributed to anthologies. She is Co-Chair of the Translators Association (UK). Samantha Schnee is the founding editor of Words Without Borders. Her translation of Carmen Boullosa’s Texas: The Great Theft was shortlisted for the PEN America Translation Prize. She is a trustee of English PEN and she currently serves as Secretary of the Board of the American Literary Translators Association. Gabriela Jauregui is a writer, poet, and critic whose works include Controlled Decay. She has also edited the anthologies Tsunami and Tsunami 2. She was included in the Hay Festival’s Bogota 39 list of best Latin American authors. She is Cofounder of the Aura Estrada Prize for young women writers.

Participants

Amalia Gladhart has published translations of novels by Alicia Yánez Cossío and Angélica Gorodischer. Her translation of Gorodischer’s Jaguars’ Tomb was supported by an NEA fellowship. Her short fiction appears most recently in The Common, Cordella Magazine, and Portland Review. She is Professor of Spanish at the University of Oregon. D.P. Snyder is a writer and translator from Spanish. Magazines: The Sewanee Review, Exile Quarterly, World Literature in Translation, Two Lines Journal, inter alia. Books: Talking Books with Mario Vargas Llosa (Nebraska 2020); Meaty Pleasures, Mónica Lavín (Katakana Editores 2021). Contributor: Public Seminar, Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas, Reading in Translation, Asymptote. Julie Ann Ward is a writer, translator, and Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of Oklahoma. Her translations have appeared in World Literature Today, Latin American Literature Today, and Dancing with the Zapatistas. Maureen Shaughnessy translates Latin American literature and poetry. Her translation of Hebe Uhart’s selected stories, The Scent of Buenos Aires (Archipelago Books), was longlisted for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize. Her latest translation is a chapbook of Nurit Kasztelan’s poetry, Awaiting Major Events (Cardboard House Press). She lives in Bariloche, Argentina. Barbara D. Riess is Professor of Spanish and Translation at Allegheny College. She won the International Latino Book Award for Best Translation of Fiction (Spanish to English) in 2016 for An Address in Habana / Domicilio habanero. Other translations appear in Spain: A Traveler’s Literary Companion (2003), Cuba On the Edge (2007) and in Cuba Counterpoints (2017). Katie King is a literary translator from the Spanish. Her translations of the poetry and prose have been published in print and online. Dr. King holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies and her research focus in the literature of Spain in translation to English. Wendy Call translated In the Belly of Night and Other Poems (Pluralia, 2021) and Nostalgia Doesn’t Flow Away Like Riverwater (Deep Vellum, forthcoming), both by Mexican-Zapotec poet Irma Pineda. She was a 2018-19 Fulbright Scholar in Colombia and a 2015 NEA Fellow, both for poetry translation. Read more at www.wendycall.com. Heather Houde is a Philadelphia-based visual artist, writer, and translator. Her first book of short stories titled Thin Skinned will be published in Fall 2021 with the Puerto Rico/ Philadelphia-based editorial, Antípoda. She teaches English as a Second Language to adults at the Free Library of Philadelphia where she is lucky to share her love of reading, writing, and language every day. Patrick Blaine is a Spanish to English translator focusing on Latin American fiction from the Southern Cone. He is also a post-dictatorial cultural studies scholar.