Episode 64: John Keene
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Episode 2 of Commonplace’s special series on translation
John R. Keene is the author of Annotations and Counternarratives, both published by New Directions, as well as several other works, including the poetry collection Seismosis, with artist Christopher Stackhouse, and a translation of Brazilian author Hilda Hilst’s novel Letters from a Seducer. Born in St. Louis, Keene is a graduate of Harvard College and New York University, where he was a New York Times Fellow. He is the recipient of many awards and fellowships—including a MacArthur Genius Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, and the Whiting Foundation Prize for fiction. He teaches at Rutgers University-Newark. (Bio adapted from New Directions.)
John Keene talks to Commonplace host Rachel Zucker about his experiences—starting as early as middle school—with translation, why he believes translation is so important, and how his work as a poet and fiction writer is informed by his work as a translator. Keene, who primarily translates from Portuguese, French and Spanish, speaks about his article “Translating Poetry, Translating Blackness,” and how the dearth of translations of non-Anglophone black diasporic writers into English compounds problem of the lack of representation in media and literature. Keene also discusses the whiteness of the publishing industry, the unique challenges of translating LGBTQ+ literature across cultures, and more.
Books by John Keene
Counternarratives (New Directions, 2016)
Seismosis (1913 Press, 2013)
Annotations (New Directions, 1995)
Books Translated by John Keene
Letters from a Seducer by Hilda Hilst (Nightboat, 2014)
Other Books and Writers Mentioned in the Episode
Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou (Soft Skull, 2010)
Other Relevant Links
