| Dear Aster(ix) readers,
We are thrilled to share with you our new SUMMER ISSUE: Aster(ix) Kitchen Table Translation edited by Madhu Kaza. This issue features the work of immigrant and diasporic translators compiling the writing and translation of Amharic, Arabic, French, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Mandarin, Ojibwe, Portuguese, Spanish, Telugu, Turkestani, Urdu, and Wolof.
In her editor’s note Kaza writes, “In this issue of Aster(ix), I wanted to hear from writers and translators who could speak about personal, cultural and political dimensions of translation in relation to the technical and aesthetic aspects of the work…Kitchen Table Translation seeks to make space for the fact that translation can be an intimate act… Some of us, when we translate, call on our family (rather than colleagues) to help us with challenging passages or words. Many second generation, diasporic and indigenous writers who speak (or partly speak) an ancestral language at home, might find the discourse of mastery fraught, especially when access to a language has been lost through historical violence and dislocation. And some of us experience translation all the time in our bodies, names, homes, movements and daily lives even if we are not translating from one text to another.”
Kaza who was born in Andhra Pradesh, India, and is a writer and translator herself, gathered the voices of some of the most thoughtful and exciting writers and translators of our time, so please keep reading.
We hope your summer is joyous and inspired!
As always, with love,
Angie Cruz
Editor-In-Chief
Aster(ix) Journal |
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| The Desert Survival Series/ La serie de la sobrevivencia del desierto (excerpt) | Amy Sara Carroll
Remember—even the sidewinder hovercrafts, the bulk of its body above the scalding sand as it leaves its trademark J-shaped tracks across the desert dunes.
Recuerde—aun la víbora de cascabel aerodesliza la mayor parte de su cuerpo sobre la ardiente arena mientras deja su característica huella en forma de “J” a lo largo de las dunas del desierto. |
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| Vão / Vòng A Conversation with Katrina Dodson | Madhu Kaza
If someone had to inadvertently access my email inbox, I’m glad it was Katrina Dodson. During the week that I met Katrina in July 2016, I was teaching Elizabeth Bishop and writing about Clarice Lispector. Katrina, an Elizabeth Bishop scholar, is an acclaimed translator of Lispector. |
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| The Paper Camera (excerpt) | Youmna Chlala
force and muscle spit and saliva and tongue against teeth.
The difference is a minute tongue induced difference
When they ask where you come from, tell them:
Don’t believe in origins. Authenticity died with Colonialism |
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| A Lullaby by Kim Hyesoon translated from Korean by Don Mee Choi
The mother of the child coddled her dead child in her arms.
She sang a lullaby.
This is the contents of her lullaby. |
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| Standing at Fallujah’s Door by Kishwar Naheed translated from Urdu by Mahwash Shoaib
What should I do with those poems
I had written on
flying birds and laughing girls
for now girls even cheaper than plunder
are bought and sold |
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Tomfoolery by Hilda Hilst translated from Portuguese by John Keene
She was red-faced and tearful but proud. She continued: I will behave in an undignified manner to satisfy you so long as my salary is compatible with such awfulness. I told her the amount. She beamed. Her name is Joyce (!). She is mignon and delicious, with a teenager’s small breasts, she’s 30 but looks 20 (I’m not afraid of syntax), her mouth with slightly raised corners, the light eyes between yellow and brown, hair almost auburn, elegant in gait and posture. |
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| From Trinity to Trinity (excerpt) translated from Japanese by Eiko Otake
She comes by and with a knock on our car window says, the is under U.S. Army jurisdiction. Please open your window. Ahead on the road, which she says the is under military jurisdiction, is a wilderness. A fence built with barbed wire and logs is open. This fence is the gate of the |
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| Four Poems by Cecilia Vicuña translated from Spanish by Rosa Alcalá
El león, sin embargo,
no puede dormir.
Si deja de vigilarla,
ella podría despertar
y nosotros desaparecer
instantáneamente. |
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Order now Summer 2017 Issue Kitchen Table Translation
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Kitchen Table Translation, by Aster(ix) Senior Editor Madhu Kaza, gathers the voices of some of the most thoughtful and exciting writers and translators of our times including works from: Rosa Alcalá, Francheska Alers-Rojas, Julieta Aranda, Sitaramayya Ari, Elizabeth Barrios, Sony Coráñez Bolton, Amy Sara Carroll, Iván Chaar-López, Youmna Chlala, Don Mee Choi, Gabrielle Civil, Teju Cole, Bruna Dantas Lobato, Katrina Dodson, Aja Couchois Duncan, Ashraf Fayadh, Shahnaz Habib, Kyoko Hayashi, Hilda Hilst, Kim Hyesoon, Magda Kapa, Mona Kareem, John Keene, Rosamond S. King, Wen Liu, Orquídea Morales, Lina Mounzer, Kishwar Naheed, Eiko Otake, Omar Pimienta, Mary Renda, Eléna Rivera, Zohra Saed, Mahwash Shoaib, Eleni Stecopoulos, Irene Stecopoulos, Cecilia Vicuña, Vimala, and Dagmawi Woubshet.
This product is a paperback book.
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| As usual, many of you know Aster(ix) is a work of puro amor devoted to writers, artists, thinkers and activists committed to social change. It runs on a crazy, midnight-oil kind of energy and thrives on word-of-mouth. So thank you all who tweet, instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter, who like our FB page and cite us in your work. |
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