What are Creative Approaches to Translating the “The”? Part 1

In an age of heightened attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the international translation world, these issues come to the forefront. Come join us, a trio of writer-translators and scholars, to share your approaches to translating the definite article, including breakout groups for discussion of specific examples. In addition, we’ll share with you our own strategies to tackle definite articles, provide examples, and raise discussion questions like the ones above. Format: Session 1 (15 min) “skirmishes” with translating the “the.” (30 min) Participants share their war stories. (20 min) A specific question will be asked. (10 min) Q & A. | Session 2 (20 min) More questions generated from the audience will be addressed. (45 min) Breakout sessions. (10 min) Wrap-up.

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Organizers

Jennifer Rathbun, poet and translator, is Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics at Ball State University. She is the translator of fourteen books by Hispanic authors such as Alberto Blanco and Minerva Margarita Villarreal, editor of two anthologies of poetry, and author of the poetry collection El libro de las traiciones / The Book of Betrayals. Nancy Naomi Carlson, twice an NEA literature translation grant recipient, has published eleven titles (seven translated). An Infusion of Violets (Seagull, 2019) was called “new & noteworthy” by The New York Times. A senior Translation Editor for Tupelo Quarterly, her work has appeared in such journals as APR, The Georgia Review, The Paris Review, and Poetry. www.nancynaomicarlson.com. Mauricio Espinoza is an educator, poet, and translator. He is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature at the University of Cincinnati. He is co-translator of the work of 20th-century Costa Rican poet Eunice Odio and has translated the work of contemporary Costa Rican poet Randall Roque, as well as poems by Salvadoran American authors Lorena Duarte and José B. González.

Participants

Laura Nagle is based in Indianapolis and translates from French, Spanish, and Irish. She was awarded an ALTA Travel Fellowship in 2020. Her current translation projects include contemporary fiction as well as previously untranslated works by prominent French writers Prosper Mérimée and George Sand and Bolivian feminist poet Adela Zamudio. Anna Vilner is a literary translator and PhD student in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Her translations of Hebe Uhart’s collected essays are forthcoming from Archipelago Books. Calvin Olsen is currently a PhD student in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at NC State University. His poetry and translations have appeared in AGNI, Asymptote, The Los Angeles Review, The London Magazine, Poet Lore, and many others. More work can be found at www.calvin-olsen.com. Marielle Sutherland is a freelance German-English translator and former lecturer in German Studies. She has a PhD in German and a Diploma in Translation. She has published a co-translation of poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke with OUP, translations in the literary journals InTranslation and Alchemy, and contributions in nonfiction books in the arts and humanities. Kathleen Maris Paltrineri is a poet and literary translator from Iowa. She is the recipient of a 2021-2022 Fulbright Fellowship to edit and translate an anthology of contemporary Norwegian ecopoetry. She holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa.