March 13 2004
Genius of (Mis)Translation Series with David Hinton, a translator of ancient Chinese poetry,Cecilia Vicuña, a Chilean poet who performs multilingually, & John Thompson, who plays the guqin, a musical instrument of China’s ancient poets.
Hinton’s translations from Chinese include The Mountain Poems of Hsieh Ling-yun (New Directions, 2001), Mencius (1999), The Analects of Confucius (1998), Chuang Tzu: Inner Chapters (1997), Forms of Distance by Bei Dao (1994), The Selected Poems of T’ao Ch’ien (1993), and The Selected Poems of Tu Fu (1989). In 1997 he won The Academy of American Poets Harold Morton Landon Translation Award for his three volumes published in 1996: The Selected Poems of Lí Po and Bei Dao’s Landscape Over Zero (both published by New Directions), and The Late Poems of Meng Chiao (Princeton). His other recent honors include fellowships from the Witter Bynner Foundation, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Chilean poet, artist and filmmaker Cecilia Vicuña is the author of fourteen poetry books, published in Europe, Latin America and the US. Honors include: The Pennies from Heaven Award, 2002, The Anonymous Was a Woman Award, l999, The Lila Wallace-Reader¹s Digest Arts International Award in l992, The Fund for Poetry Award in l995-96 and The Human Rights Award from the Fund for Free Expression in New York in l985. Her most recent books are: Instan, Kelsey St. Press, 2002 El Templo, translated by Rosa Alcalá, Situations, New York, 2001; Cloud-Net, trans. by Rosa Alcalá, Art in General/Hallwalls/DiverseWorks/ New York, Houston, Buffalo, l999; UL, Four Mapuche Poets, a Bilingual Anthology edited by Cecilia Vicuña, LALRP, Pittsburgh, 1998; QUIPOem/ The Precarious , The Art and Poetry of Cecilia Vicuña, Edited by M. Catherine de Zegher, translated by Esther Allen, Wesleyan University Press, l997; Word & Thread, translated by Rosa Alcalá, Morning StarPublications,1996; PALABRARmas/WURDWAPINschaw, translated by Edwin Morgan, Morning Star Publications, Edinburgh, l994; and Unravelling Words & The Weaving of Water, translated by Eliot Weinberger and Suzanne Jill Levine, edited by Eliot Weinberger, Graywolf Press, l992 .
