Residencies

• Our first Translation Residency took place in June/July 2010 in Coatepec and Xalapa with poets Forrest Gander and Alfonso D'Aquino. Gander selected Alfonso D’Aquino as the Mexican poet he would most like to translate and be translated by, and whose work needs more visibility in the English language. Forrest Gander has recently finished a translation of D'Aquino's Fungus Skull Eye Wing: Selected Poems of Alfonso D’Aquino.  A few of those poems are included in S/N New World Poetics Vol. 3 as well as online: here and here
  

Forrest Gander

With an "unflinchingly curious mind," celebrated poet Forrest Gander has become known for the richness of his language and his undaunted lyric passion. A translator, essayist, and the editor of two anthologies of Mexican poetry, Gander is the author of more than a dozen books, including collaborations with notable artists and photographers. His many books include his gem-like first novel As A Friend (2008); the poetry collections Eye Against Eye (with photographs by Sally Mann), Torn Awake, and Science & Steepleflower; and the essay collection, Faithful Existence: Reading, Memory &  Transcendence. Translations include Firefly Under the Tongue: Selected Poems of Coral Bracho, which was the finalist for the PEN Translation Prize, and, with Kent Johnson, The Night by Jaime Saenz. Gander's essays have appeared in many national magazines including The Nation, The Boston Review, and American Poetry Review.

In 2008, Gander was named a United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow, one of 50 artists to be recognized for artistic excellence, unique artistic vision, and significant contributions to their fields. Gander is also the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim, Howard, and Whiting Foundations, and he has received two Gertrude Stein Awards for Innovative Poetry. Gander is professor of English and Comparative Literature at Brown University. He teaches courses on phenomenology and poetics, translation and Asian-American literature.

Alfonso D’Aquino

Alfonso D’Aquino was born in Mexico City in 1959.  D'Aquino is a poet, essayist and translator, publisher and professor. Alfonso was a Fellow of the INBA/FONAPAS for poetry during 1980-1981 and a member of the SNCA during the periods 1997-2000 and 2000-2003.  In 1981, at the age of 22 he was awarded the prestigious Carlos Pellicer prize for for his book, Prosfisia.  He has collaborated in the magazines and supplements: Casadel Tiempo, La letra y la imagen, Letras Libres, Mandorla-magazine of the Universidad de México, Sábado y Vuelta and numerous others. He has translated poems of Kenneth Rexroth, Denise Levertov and Forrest Gander, among others. His published books of poems include: Prosfisia (Taller Martín Pescador, 1981), Piedra no piedra (Rock No Rock, UAM, 1992),  Naranja verde (Vuelta, 1996  CONACULTA/Verdehalago, La Centena, 2002), Tanagra (CONACULTA, 1996.), Briznas (Taller Martín Pescador, 1997), Luciérnagas (Taller Martín Pescador, 1999), Víbora breve (Small Viper, Taller Martín Pescador, 1999), Basilisco  (Ediciones Sin Nombre, 2001), Hyalus (tsé-tsé, Buenos Aires, 2005)  and more.  He makes his living now as an editor and teaches occasional poetry workshops that have become as renowned and influential as those “Poetry as Magic” sessions that Jack Spicer conducted at the start of the San Francisco Renaissance.