Beyond Words and Borders: Poetry and Translation with Mireille Gansel (in person)

To register for this free program organized by the Center for the Art of Translation in partnership with the Jewish Community Library and World Poetry Books, click here. The Library is located at 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, with free garage parking at 1227 Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy.

Acclaimed French poet, translator, and translator-theorist Mireille Gansel will join Joan Seliger Sidney for a reading and discussion of Gansel’s first book of her poetry in English translation, Soul House, and a conversation about the nature of language and the splendors and limitations of translation. Translated by Joan Seliger Sidney, Soul House crisscrosses time and extends hospitality to exiled poets and peoples in a quest to recreate a lost literary and spiritual home. In these war-torn days, Gansel strives to describe what we have in common, creating a crossroads of people, places, and languages she has loved.

Mireille Gansel is considered one of today’s most important translators. The daughter of Jewish refugees, she grew up in post-war France. She has won major awards both for her translations of German and Vietnamese poets, and for some of her seven books of poetry. Her lyrical memoir, Translation as Transhumance—published in an English translation by Ros Schwartz—has contributed significantly to the field of translation studies. In 2018, Gansel became the Laureate of the Great Prize of Translation Etienne Dolet-Sorbonne Université. Other awards include the Khoury-Ghata poetry prize, the Gérald de Nerval translation prize, an English PEN Award, and a French Voices Award. Soul House (World Poetry, 2023) is her first book of poetry in English translation.