Translator Larissa Kyzer and Author Kári Tulinius Awarded €10,000 Grant and Two-Month Residency by Finland's Kone Foundation

in

Translator and author collaborators Larissa Kyzer and Kári Tulinius have been awarded a €10,000 Euro grant and two-month residency by Finland’s Kone Foundation. The grant will support the translation of Kári’s poetry, to be included in a future English-language Collected Works (read more about the project below).

Kári and Larissa’s application was one of 26 awarded places at the Kone Foundation’s Saari Residency in 2024, and was selected from a record number of applications: A total of 949 applications were submitted for individual residencies, of which 103 were working partners.

The pair will spend January and February 2024 at Saari and will have a full collection ready for publication (world English rights available) at the residency’s end.

Vanishing Glaciers – The Poems of Kári Tulinius

Climate change is a global phenomenon, but one part of the world where it has been especially visible is the subarctic. The arctic and subarctic regions of the planet have been warming at a quicker pace than those closer to the equator. That has led to rapid changes in the flora and fauna of land and sea, which has happened quickly enough to be noticeable. In the long history of nature poetry, one theme has recurred over and over again, the regularity of the seasons, and how the rhythms of nature are unchanging. In his poetry, Kári Tulinius pays very close attention to his environment, whether it's natural, built or societal. He picks up small details which he places within bigger systems, whether it is humanity's evolutionary heritage, animals in the natural world, or the place of individuals in the vastness of the universe. One theme that repeatedly surfaces in his work is the experience of living in Iceland during climate change, which make his poems especially pertinent now, as the island's ecosystem is conspicuously transforming. He is trying to answer the question what it means to be a nature poet when nature itself has been put out of balance by humanity, when landscape features as enormous as glaciers are melting away.

Poetry Translation Slam at PEN World Voices Festival

From the PEN World Voices event write-up:

The Festival favorite returns! Witness an illuminating and exhilarating literary debate with competing translations of Japanese and Icelandic poems. Then, join an interactive discussion on the art of translation with Icelandic poet Gerður Kristný and Japanese writer Kanako Nishi, who will be joined by literary translators Larissa Kyzer, Kara B. Thors, Terry Gallagher, and Iyasu Nagata. Hosted by Allison Markin Powell and Björn Halldórsson.

Co-presented with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

May 9
7:00 - 8:30 PM
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
Tickets $12 in advance; $15 at the door.
Purchase tickets here.

Bilingual Reading at ALTA41

in

I’m delighted to be taking part in the bilingual reading series at this year’s ALTA conference. I’ll be reading poetry by Kári Tulinius, both some of his experimental ‘4x4s’ which I published in Exchanges in 2017, as well as his poem “Oral Exam in Civic Engagement,” which appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of Cafe Review.

I’ll be the first reader during the 9th bilingual reading session, “Poetry Miscellany” on Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 9:00 AM. I’ll be reading alongside a translator and author of poetry in American Sign Language, as well as translators from Portuguese, Romanian, Biblical Hebrew, and Polish.

Should be fun!