Translation workshop Translating multilingual poetry

Translating a poem already takes special deliberation, but how do you translate a poem made up of multiple languages? More and more writers are embracing their multilingual identity in their work, writing poems in which words and lines from different languages and different cultural worlds meet. Translating such a poem is a beautiful challenge that we will meet head-on during this workshop, which will be led by professional translator Egan Garr. Egan will show you the different ways of dealing with multiple languages in poetry translation and the considerations that are involved before you make a choice. Prior to the workshop, you will be asked to choose a multilingual poem and translate it (any language pairings are possible). During the workshop, you will discuss what you came across. After this, you will translate a multilingual poem (with Dutch as its primary language) into English together. Therefore, a working knowledge of English and some knowledge of Dutch are necessary to fully participate in this workshop. You don't know any examples of multilingual poems? Feel free to send us an email and we will send you examples!

Egan Garr is a queer poet and translator from the American South. In 2002, they co-founded Versal, a small press in Amsterdam. Garr translates contemporary Dutch and Flemish poetry into English, including work by Simone Atangana Bekono, Astrid Haerens, and Iduna Paalman, and is the author of two chapbooks, Terrane (MIEL, 2015) and The Preservationist Documents (Pilot Books, 2012).