Translating the Boundaries of Australian Writing

Sydney - Apr 11, 2014

featuring Chris Andrews, Chris Edwards, Mridula Nath Chakraborty, Peter Boyle, Gonzalo Melchor, Laetitia Nanquette, and Elizabeth McMahon. View photos here.

Summary

Despite the torrential autumnal rain clattering on the tin roof, spirits were high upstairs at Gleebooks in the heart of Sydney’s bohemian Glebe. Ranging in age from 18-80, the crowd included some of Australia’s most celebrated literary figures. The evening started with three disparate approaches to translation. Chris Andrews read from his translation of César Aira’s Shantytown; we were transported to the cardboard-strewn streets of Buenos Aires. Chris Edwards read from his ‘Rilke Renditions’ and, with Rilke’s German text projected beside him, had us delighting in his hilarious homophonic play. Mridula Nath Chakraborty followed with a captivating presentation of multiple translations of Australian Aboriginal poet Ali Cobby Eckermann’s poems into Bengali. After a short break for drinks and snacks (people’s mouths scorching from wasabi peas), we gathered for a panel discussion between Peter Boyle, Gonzalo Melchor, Laetitia Nanquette, and Mridula Nath Chakraborty. Elizabeth McMahon moderated with great agility. The panel discussed the process, ethics, and pleasures of translating, and addressed the role of literary translation in the Australian literary landscape. The rain came pelting down and people lingered in the post-panel glow.