in conversation with translator Peter Constantine
Wednesday, November 10, 3:00 pm Central
Crowdcast
Join us for a coffee break conversation as we celebrate the publication of Crops, the latest chapbook in Rain Taxi’s OHM Editions series, a stunning collection of verse by the award-winning Polish poet and musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski! In this heart-rending work, so beautifully translated into English by Peter Constantine, Kwiatkowski warns “We must not forget our tragic past because it might well return.” (Read more about Crops here.) At this special launch event, Kwiatkowski and Constantine will read from and discuss the history that informs these poems, as well as the role poetry can play in offering testimony and hope in our troubled world.
Free to attend, registration required. We hope to “see” you there!
About the Authors
by Tomasz Pawluczuk
Grzegorz Kwiatkowski (b. 1984) is a poet and musician, an author of several books of poetry revolving around the subjects of history, remembrance, and ethics. He is a member of a psychedelic rock band Trupa Trupa. He has been an Artist in Residence at numerous international literary programs and a guest lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley; Johns Hopkins University; the University of Chicago; Jewish Theological Seminary; the University of Cambridge and the Ted Hughes Society (“Crow at 50”); The University of Texas at Dallas, and Miroslaw Balka’s Studio of Spatial Activities at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. His music and literary works have been published and reviewed in The Guardian, Modern Poetry in Translation, New Poetry In Translation, CBC, Pitchfork, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Billboard, Spin, Chicago Tribune, Times, NPR, BBC and KEXP. As a musician, he performed with his band at such events as Desert Daze Festival, Rockaway Beach Festival, SXSW, Primavera Sound and Iceland Airwaves. Trupa Trupa was also invited to take part in a legendary NPR Tiny Desk session. Its music has been published by global record labels such as Sub Pop, Glitterbeat Records, Ici d’ailleurs and Lovitt Records.
by Annette Hornischer
Peter Constantine’s recent translations include works by Augustine, Solzhenitsyn, Rousseau, Machiavelli, Gogol, and Tolstoy. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann, and the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov. He is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut, the publisher of World Poetry Books, and editor-in-chief of New Poetry in Translation.