Issei Poetry Community Translation Workshop

No Japanese required! Awaken your inner poet as we explore the world of Issei poetry through translation.

This workshop invites the public into the collaborative art of interpreting and translating Japanese-language poetry. Translators Andrew Leong and Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda will guide participants through the fundamentals of literary translation using rare materials from the archives of JACCC's Issei Poetry Project, which preserves Japanese-language literary works written by Japanese immigrants in California during the pre-war period.

Together, we’ll also reflect on the ethics of translation and what it means to work with a community archive. Who are we translating for? What is our relationship to the text? How much historical context is needed when working with a poem written nearly a century ago? And how can we approach publication with care and respect?

Prior experience with literary translation or Japanese-language reading is not required, though it is always welcome.

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