Translating Words and Worlds

What does translation of a literary text involve? Not just knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, but a deep sense of two cultures. Translation is a creative act that transforms a fictional world into its foreign counterpart. Antony Shugaar, in conversation with Anna Lawton, will discuss his long-time experience as the translator of the most prominent Italian authors, from Primo Levi to Edoardo Albinati, from Maurizio De Giovanni to Roberto Saviano.

Nov. 2
5:20 p.m.

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Speakers:

Antony Shugaar has been a professional translator since 1976. He is currently translating his fortieth book for Europa Editions, the innovative and acclaimed New York/Rome publisher. He is currently translating his second novel by Roberto Saviano, for Farrar Straus & Giroux (FSG). He has translated four Strega award winning novels, Story of My People by Edoardo Nesi (2011), Resistance Is Futile by Walter Siti (2013), Ferocity by Nicola Lagioia (2015), and The Catholic School by Edoardo Albinati (2016), and has just received his second NEA fellowship to translate The Desire to Be Like Everyone by Francesco Piccolo (2014), his fifth Strega.

In conversation with:

Anna Lawton has earned her PhD in Russian Literature at UCLA. She worked both in academia and in government. As a professor, she taught courses in literature, cinema and visual culture at Purdue University and Georgetown University. She has served on the Advisory Film Committee of the National Gallery of Art, has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and a member of the jury for the most prestigious Italian book award, Premio Strega. She is the author of several books, including two novels. She is also the founder and head of New Academia Publishing.