The Writers House presents the Spring 2021 Writers in Camden Series beginning Wednesday, January 20, with a celebration of the art of literary translation. This year we are joined by Anna Deeny Morales, a critic, translator of poetry, and dramatist.
A virtual translation workshop, open to Rutgers University students, faculty, staff, and invited community members, will begin at 3 p.m. Registration is required.
At 7 p.m., all are welcome to attend a talk and reading by Ms. Morales. Registration is required to receive Zoom log-in information.
ANNA DEENY MORALES is a translator of poetry, dramatist, and literary critic. She is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow for her translation of Tala by Nobel Laureate, Gabriela Mistral. Her translations of Raúl Zurita’s poetry include Sky Below, Selected Works (Northwestern University Press, 2016), of which she is also the editor; Dreams for Kurosawa (arrow as aarow press, 2011); and Purgatory (University of California Press, 2009). Shearsman Press published her translations of Alejandra Pizarnik’s Diana’s Tree in 2020, and Mercedes Roffé’s Floating Lanterns in 2015. Selections of Floating Lanterns have been set to music by Theresa Wong for commissions at The New School and the Long Beach Opera. Forthcoming translations include selected works by Nicanor Parra, of which she is also the editor, by New Directions.
Original works in opera include ¡ZAVALA-ZAVALA! an opera in v cuts, commissioned by the University of Carolina, Charlotte, and composer Brian Arreola. Dedicated to families separated under the Trump administration at the Mexico-US border, ¡ZAVALA-ZAVALA! will be debuted by the Post-Classical Ensemble and the In Series in 2022. Recent adaptations of zarzuelas include Gonzalo Roig’s Cecilia Valdés (2018), and La Paloma at the Wall (2019), an adaptation of Tomás Bretón’s La verbena de la Paloma. Both were commissioned by the In Series and performed at Gala Hispanic Theater in Washington, DC. Original works for contemporary dance and theater include La straniera (1997), an adaptation of Medea by Euripides, and Tela di Ragno (1999–2002), inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Both were commissioned by Il Balletto di Spoleto and performed in Italy and Spain.
Deeny Morales received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and teaches in the Center Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. She sits on the board of directors of the In Series and chairs the Gabriela Mistral Youth Poetry Competition. Her book, Other Solitudes: Essays on Consciousness and Poetry, is forthcoming in 2022.