New Arrivals
Alchemy of the Word: Writers Talk About Writing
edited by Nicola Morris and Aimee Liu
Alchemy of the Word: Writers Talk About Writing is a book like no other, from a writing program like no other. In this remarkable collection of essays, twenty-five acclaimed novelists, poets, playwrights, memoirists, cross-genre and nonfiction writers engage the reader in a virtual literary conversation, filled with passion, insight, wit, and warmth.
“Whether you’re a young beginner or a veteran writer like me, you’ll get support from reading Alchemy of the Word. These authors’ thoughts are mystical and practical, political and inspiring and funny. I’ve found companions on this lonely journey.”
—Maxine Hong Kingston, National Book Award Winner
and author of China Men, The Woman Warrior, and Tripmaster Monkey
“Alchemy of the Word is a smart, exhilarating collection—a true literary conversation, filled with wit, heart, and insight. Every writer with the ambition to create meaningful work will treasure this book. As one author says, ‘Welcome to the club. Remember to pay your dues.’”
—Kim Addonizio, author of What Is This Thing Called Love,
Lucifer at the Starlite, and Tell Me, a finalist for the National Book Award
“Any time a group of writers takes what little time they have away from their creative process to share the insight and wisdom gleaned from years of practicing their craft, we should all take notice. These are the kinds of lessons you don’t learn in school, but instead, learn from life. Artists mentoring artists is a very good thing.”
—Gary Garrison, Executive Director, The Creative Affairs of the Dramatist’s Guild, and author of The New, Improved Playwrights Survival Guide:
Keeping the Drama in Your Work and Out of Your Life
2011 National Translation Award Winner
The American Literary Translaters Association (ALTA) presented the 2011 National Translation Award to Lisa Rose Bradford for her translation of Between Words: Juan Gelman's Public Letter.
Between Words: Juan Gelman's Public Letter
by Juan Gelman
Juan Gelman’s Public Letter (Carta abierta) is a collection of poetic elegies addressed to his son, Marcelo, who disappeared in 1976 during Argentina’s “dirty war.” With an inimitable voice and Argentine rhythms, Gelman works the language to come to terms with sorrow and exile. Created in close collaboration with the author, Between Words: Juan Gelman’s Public Letter offers the first complete edition of these poems in English, and the translator’s essay and interview with the poet provide valuable insight into Gelman’s poetics as well as the translation process.
From the ALTA press release:
Between Words: Juan Gelman’s Public Letter consists of a series of poetic elegies addressed by the Argentinian poet-in-exile to his son, Marcelo, who disappeared in 1976 in Argentina’s “dirty war.” First published in Spain in 1980, Gelman’s work was warmly and enthusiastically embraced throughout the Spanish-speaking world, garnering the author numerous prizes, including the prestigious Premio Cervantes. Public Letter, in the words of Bradford, represents an attempt “to come to terms with sorrow and exile by showing how poetry can heroically rise up against death with incessant and poignant beauty.”
Juan Gelman's Commentaries and Citations
Love-in-absence, past-in-present, and clarity-in-pain are the major themes of Commentaries and Citations. In these poems, dedicated to his motherland, Gelman composes nostalgia and desire by invokingand responding to texts that range from the Bible to the mystics andon to tango. In his unique fashion, he trespasses the limits of language and authorship to produce an unusual love poetry of cascading rhythms and stunning imagery. These poems are for the first time rendered in their entirety in this en face Spanish/English edition.
About the author:
Juan Gelman is one of the most celebrated poets writing in the Spanish language. Between 1956 and 2009, he published more than twenty books of poetry. His many awards include the National Poetry Prize (Argentina, 1997), the Juan Rulfo Prize in Latin American and Caribbean Literature (Mexico, 2000), the Pablo Neruda Prize (Chile, 2005), the Queen Sofia Prize in Ibero-American Poetry (Spain, 2005), and the most prestigious Spanish-language literary award, the Cervantes Prize in 2007. Having worked as a journalist and a translator in Argentina, Spain, France, and Italy, Gelman is presently living in Mexico City.
About the translator:
Lisa Rose Bradford, the translator of Carta abierta, was born in Dayton, Ohio and presently teaches Comparative Literature at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and raises horses and cattle in Madariaga, Argentina. Her doctoral work was completed at the University of California at Berkeley, and since then she has edited two compendiums on translation and cultural studies, Traducción como cultura, La cultura de los géneros, and two U.S. poetry anthologies in Spanish: Los pájaros, por la nieve (RIL, Chile, forthcoming) and Usos de la imaginación: poetas latin@s en EE.UU (EUDEM, Argentina). Her poems and translations have appeared in various magazines and journals.
Support for the Translation:
Coimbra Editions wishes to acknowledge that Between Words: Juan Gelman's Public Letter and Commentaries and Citations were financially supported and published within the framework of the SUR Translation Support Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Religion of the Argentine Republic.
Coming Soon
A Boy's Dream by Wynn Yarbrough
California Institute of Arts and Letters
info@calartsandletters.org
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