08.11.2021

Poethreesome

Literature, Poetry, Roma/online

H18:00
Entrance: Via Liguria 20

Dates
08.11.2021
Location
Roma/online
Category
Literature, Poetry
Information

H18:00
Entrance: Via Liguria 20

The event will take place at H18:00 at Istituto Svizzero, Via Liguria 20, or it can be followed online.
Register here to participate in Rome.
Register here to follow the encounter online.

Poems and translations, readings with Michelle Steinbeck, Laura Di Corcia, Rebecca Gisler

Poets around the world have always translated other poets, often without even knowing the source language. Given the poor contacts between Swiss poets from different language areas, and noting that mental barriers may be more granitic than physical ones, Babel conceived the project titled Poethreesome in 2016.

Each year, three Swiss poets translate each other into three national languages. When they do not know the source language, they rely on the mediation of interlinear versions-word for word, with notes on lexicon and prosody prepared by scholars or other poets or translators-or on a shared lingua franca. In any case, the translator and the translated always share a language, that of poetry. Poetic language knows no barriers, not even linguistic ones, that cannot be overcome. Both for writers and for readers. Translation between writers from different linguistic areas thus offers a model of mediation for approaching other people’s cultures and ways of being.

The results of this work are presented at national and international literary events and finally published in Specimen. The Babel Review of Translations.

The 2020/21 edition of Poethreesome is all-female, with three poets whose work of writing and translation intertwine almost to the point of merging: Michelle Steinbeck for German, Laura di Corcia for Italian, Rebecca Gisler, a Swiss-Romanian poet who writes in French and German. The poets will be hosted at Istituto Svizzero while they carry out the work of mutual translation. The result of their kaleidoscopic work will be presented to the public during the reading on the 08.11.2021.

The project is realized with the support of Progetto PonTi Culturali – Gottardo 2016, Fondazione Oertli, in collaboration with Babel Festival di letteratura e traduzione, Festival di letteratura di Leukerbad, Poésie en ville.

In accordance with current regulations, the public is required to present a Covid Green Certificate at the entrance in order to access the event. This includes one of the following:

  • • You have received the anti-COVID-19 vaccination, with proof that you have received the first dose of vaccine at least 15 days previously or that you have completed the vaccination cycle;
  • • Recovery from COVID-19 within 6 months prior to the date of the event;
  • • Present a rapid antigenic or molecular test with a negative result within 48 hours prior to admission.

Biographies:

Michelle Steinbeck writes books, plays, reportage. Her works have been translated into several languages. She is editor-in-chief of the Fabrikzeitung, columnist for WOZ Die Wochenzeitung, and co-founder of the feminist writers’ collective RAUF. She is currently the in-house writer at Theater Basel. In 2017/18 she was a fellow resident at Istituto Svizzero in Rome.

Laura Di Corcia lives in Ticino, where she works as a teacher and collaborates with various newspapers and radio stations as a literary and theatrical critic, as well as a playwright. She has published the poetry collection In tutte le direzioni (LietoColle, collana Gialla-Pordenone Legge, 2018); Epica dello spreco (Milan, Dot.com Press Poetry); the critical biography Vita quasi vera di Giancarlo Majorino (Milan, La Vita Felice, 2014; Sguardi series). His poems are translated into English, French, German and Spanish. Some of his texts have been selected for an anthology of Italian poets in America edited by Professor Luigi Ballerini, soon to be published and intended for academic circuits. His new collection of poems will be published in September by the publishing house TLON, for the series Controcielo.

Rebecca Gisler, born in Zurich in 1991, is a graduate of the Swiss Institute of Literature and the Master in CrĂ©ation littĂ©raire at the University of Paris 8. She writes in German and French and translates her texts from one language to another. She is co-organizer of the Teppich series at Literaturhaus Zurich. In 2020, she received the prose prize at the 28th Open Mike literary competition. In September, her first novel D’oncle will be published in French by Ă©ditions Verdier.