As the scope of literature continues to take in the shifting realms of experiences and global relations, our editors from around the world report the latest updates, from festivals, activisms, and the spotlighting of vital voices both new and familiar. Read on to find out more!
Josefina Massot, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Argentina
Last week, we mourned the loss of the great Sergio Chejfec, whose work spanned grammars, genres, and geographies. Chejfec spent his time between his native Buenos Aires and New York City, where he lived and taught at NYU’s Creative Writing Program. During a 2018 interview with Télam, he spoke about the impact of migration on his work: “In my experience, moving from one country to another accentuates the passage of time: the gap isn’t merely geographic. Exiles are far away from their countries, but also from the network of simultaneities they were accustomed to while living there; notable among these is language.” Fortunately, gaps and absences can be bridged through translation. Chejfec’s works are available in French, German, Portuguese, and English, and US readers can delight in them via Open Letter.
Meanwhile, Other Press is on the verge of releasing Kit Maude’s rendition of Camila Sosa Villada’s Bad Girls (incidentally, Sosa Villada’s latest has just come out in Spanish). Equal parts gritty and tender, Bad Girls narrates a trans woman’s exploits at the margins of society; a recipient of the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award in 2020, it’s bound to take America by storm. The award’s previous winner, Maria Gainza’s Portrait of an Unknown Lady, just out from Catapult, was also widely celebrated upon its reception. The novel, translated by Thomas Bunstead, follows an auction house employee on the trail of an elusive forger; like Gainza’s The Optic Nerve, it draws from art and literature to great effect.
Another fruitful disciplinary mix will punctuate this weekend’s Festival LEER (Literatura en el Río). Held in San Isidro by the Río de la Plata, the outdoor event will focus on the interplay of writing and music. Journalists Mónica Yemayel, Federico Bianchini, Romina Zanellato, and Federico Anzardi will talk about how to write pitch-perfect musician profiles. Later, a series of authors who write music and musicians who write books (i.e., Francisco Garamona, Manuel Moretti, and Miss Bolivia) will share their experiences combining both art forms. Besides browsing and buying the latest from over a hundred presses, the public will be able to attend workshops and open classes by the likes of Fabián Casas and Leila Guerriero, not to mention a zestful joint performance by Estelares’s Manuel Moretti and La Portuaria’s Diego Frenkel.
Kristina Tatarian, Editor-at-Large, reporting for Armenia
This April in Armenia is marked by a series of events highlighting the work of Armenia’s prominent literary activists. PEN Armenia has spoken out in condemnation of war in the light of recent armed conflicts in post-Soviet spaces: Russia’s violence against the Ukrainian people, as well as the ongoing ethnic struggle in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The members of PEN Armenia, ranging from writers to literary agents, include Armen Ohanyan, Hasmik Hakobyan, Arevik Askharoyan, Lusine Kharatyan, Aram Pachyan, and many other prominent literary figures. Together, they are advocating for honest, inventive, and open-minded literature that seeks to uplift the national spirit amidst times of Armenia’s political vulnerability. Crossing the borders of language and culture, PEN Armenia’s next multilingual festival, The Burning Poet, will take place in June; it will feature a series of readings from artists of Georgia and Armenia, with a unique social and artistic agenda.
Some other notable organisations seeking to heighten the status of Armenian literature abroad are also encouraging writers to pursue novel ways of expression. The International Armenian Literary Alliance supports young Armenian writers and poets through awards and mentorship programmes, working hard at promoting innovation and dialogue with its Young Armenian Poets Award and the mentorship programme for emerging writers. The Hye-Phen Mag focuses on giving voices to the marginalized Armenian communities by uniting Armenian queer artists from all around the world; the magazine acts as an artistic platform for fresh perspectives and bold writing projects, ranging from criticism to translation.
After two years of quietude, Armenian literary works have made a return to the London Book Fair, which took place from April 5 to 7, bringing some of the best Armenian writing to international prominence. Armenia’s pavilion members have worked hard to expand the presence of Armenian literature in translation, a result of the growing concern over the bound-up nature of the Armenian book market, as well as the need to reshape the discourse of national trauma by putting it into closer dialogue with the global experience.
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong
As Hong Kong is hit hard by the fifth wave of COVID-19 infections, the city is still under a strict pandemic policy. This year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival, which took place from February 25 to March 26, cancelled or changed its programmes to an online format. Programmes available online include radical interpretations of two of Molière’s plays, Tartuffe and The School for Wives, produced by the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe; a theatre adaptation of Mark O’Connell’s To Be a Machine by London-based theatre group Dead Centre; and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s opera The Dead City by the Bavarian State Opera. Moreover, the Francophonie Festival 2022 became a completely online event, featuring activities that celebrate the 400th birthday of the great French playwright Molière, including “La Fontaine – Molière competition,” a video competition for primary and secondary school students, and a series of webinars that explore the works, life, and time of Molière.
The poetry collection of Hong Kong poet Nicholas Wong, Besiege Me, was named a finalist for the category of Gay Poetry in the 34th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. The Lambda Awards were established to celebrate LGBTQ works from across the world. Nicholas Wong’s previous poetry collection, Crevasse, won the Lambda Awards in 2016. Wong was the first Asian poet to win the poetry award, after which Asymptote published an interview with him. Moreover, The Hive and Peel Street Poetry, Hong Kong’s largest English language open mic, will feature five poets—Jason Lee, Tegan Smyth, Alexa Mae Bautista, Akin Jeje, and Vishal Nanda—in their online event, “Lockdown Lyricism: A Night of Poetry,” which will take place on March 31.
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