Best Literary Translations 2025
as Wendy Call aptly stated last night in introducing the event, so much is being murdered. with the most recent and gutting blow to the NEA and the revolting clarity of Gaza's decimation, it's hard sometimes to leave the house.
but last night, I was determined to attend the Seattle book release for Best Literary Translations 2025 with series co-editor and writer Wendy Call and readings by writers/translators Monika Cassel, Gabriela Ramirez-Chavez, and Cynthia Steele.
I had no idea that we had four such accomplished translators here in the Pacific Northwest committed to this important heart work, or that only 3% of books published in the US are works of translation. Best Literary Translations introduces readers to poetry, prose, and writers that otherwise we might never have had the opportunity to read.
Gabriela Ramirez-Chavez read her translation of Rosa Chávez's powerful "Elena Kame is a Spell." She also talked about Rosa's and her process of translating the poems, which is highly collaborative. Rosa Chávez, I learned, was the daughter of a K’iché father and a Kaqchikel mother. She grew up in the 1980s during the Guatemalan state’s genocide of Mayan communities. When translating Rosa, Gabriela leaves the K’iché words untranslated to observe Rosa’s efforts to reclaim and make the K’iché language visible.
Monika Cassel read her translation of Daniela Danz's fantastic "Come wilderness into our homes" both in German and in English. She also talked about her process relative to Gabriela's—less collaborative, but over the years Daniela and Monika have become friends and have even begun to influence each other's poetics.
Cynthia Steele read her translation of "Two Mapuche-Hulliche Poems" by Jaime Huenún Villa. Huenún writes about the violent conquest and appropriations of indigenous persons and land by Spanish and Chilean colonizers as well as present day human rights violations, for example the killing of Jaime Mendoza Collió in 2009.
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what a gift—both the event and the anthology. I sit down and open this book to whatever page and find a piece that honors and bridges cultural difference—one antidote for this current-state crisis of connection.
