LitFest 2024: Translation Slam with Ann Goldstein, Michael Moore, Nicola Lagioia, Rania Mamoun, Mayada Ibrahim, & Amani Attia

You’ve heard of a story slam and poetry slam, but what about a translation slam? Don’t worry—it’s new to us too. 

Here’s what you need to know:

A translation slam is a head-to-head competition between two translators to see who can produce the better translation of the same source material. The source material is provided to the translators ahead of time, giving the translators the opportunity to really sink their teeth into the text (remember: translation is an artform, a craft best honed with ample time). If you think this means you’ll be missing out on the action, think again. The true battle of wits begins on stage at the slam, when the two translators present and defend their work under the scrutiny of the author, the emcee, and the audience. The two must compare and discuss their strategies and choices until one of them has proven their translation best embodies the author’s voice and is deemed the victor. One text, two translators…who will prevail?

City of Asylum’s first ever translation slam will feature competitions in two languages: Italian and Arabic.

Italian writer Nicola Lagioia has shared an excerpt of his work with two of the best Italian translators around: Ann Goldstein and Michael F. Moore. Ann is the translator of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend (the #1 book in The New York Times‘ “100 Best Books of the 21st Century”) and Michael is the translator of notable works Agostino by Alberto Moravia and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi. 

The Arabic translation slam will follow an excerpt from City of Asylum’s own writer-in-residence, Rania Mamoun, author of poetry collections Thirteen Months of Sunrise and Something Evergreen Called Life. Battling to translate her work are Amani Attia and Mayada Ibrahim. Amani is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who comes from a literature background, and has written and presented on a number of modern literary works. Mayada is a literary translator, editor, and writer whose translations have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

The thrilling duels will be emceed by Michael Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief of Europa Editions, an indie publisher bringing some of the best translated work into the US market.

Purchase a copy of these artists’ work at City of Asylum Bookstore and get them signed after the program. 

About the Translators:

Ann Goldstein is a former editor at The New Yorker. She has translated works by Elena Ferrante, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Elsa Morante, among others, and is the editor of The Complete Works of Primo Levi in English. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Michael F. Moore’s published translations range from twentieth-century classics—Agostino by Alberto Moravia and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi—to contemporary novels. Michael is the former chair of the PEN/Heim Translation Fund and has a PhD in Italian from New York University. For many years he was also an interpreter at the United Nations and a full-time staff member of the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN.

Mayada Ibrahim is a literary translator, editor, and writer based in Queens, New York, with roots in Khartoum and London. She works between Arabic and English, and her translations have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and published by Dolce Stil Criollo, 128 Lit, Foundry Editions, and Willows House in South Sudan. Mayada was awarded the 2023 ALTA Travel Fellowship and participated as a judge on the PEN America Translation Award 2021. She is the managing editor at Tilted Axis Press, an independent publisher of contemporary literature by the Global Majority, translated into or written in a variety of Englishes. Previously, Mayada was the assistant editor at Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP), a publisher of prize-winning fiction from and about the Arabic-speaking world. She received my B.A. in Comparative Literature from Queen Mary, University of London.

Amani Attia is a Teaching Professor, Arabic Instructor (Egyptian/Levantine), Arabic Language Program Coordinator, Arabic Certificate Advisor, and Certified ILR OPI Tester (Egyptian Arabic). Coming from a literature background, Amani is interested in the modern Arabic novel, and modern critical theory. She has written and presented on modern literary works applying theories of postcolonialism, feminism, and deconstruction.

About the Authors:

One of Italy’s most critically acclaimed contemporary novelists, Nicola Lagioia has been the recipient of the Volponi, Straniero, and Viareggio awards, in addition to the Strega. In 2010 he was named one of Italy’s best writers under forty. He has been a jury member of the Venice Film Festival and is the program director of the Turin Book Fair. Nicola is a contributor to Italy’s most prominent culture pages. He was born in Bari, and lives in Rome. Ferocity is his English-language debut.

Rania Mamoun is a writer and Sudanese resistance committee activist. A 2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction Nadwa participant, Rania has published two novels in Arabic, Flash Akhdar (Green Flash) and Ibn-al-Shams (Son of the Sun). She is the author of the short story collection 13 Sharen Min Isharaq al Shams (Thirteen Months of Sunrise), which was translated to English by Elisabeth Jaquette and shortlisted for the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Her writing has appeared in English translation in Mizna, for which she received a Pushcart Prize nomination, Shenandoah Literary Journal, Banipal Magazine, Words Without Borders, and The Fourth River. Her stories have appeared in translation in the collections The Book of Khartoum, Banthology, and Nouvelles du Soudan. Rania edited Al Thaqafi culture magazine, contributed frequently to Al Doha Magazine, and was a presenter for the cultural program Silicon Valley on Sudanese television. In 2020, Rania completed her first poetry manuscript in Arabic and since then has published articles, poems, and short stories in Medameek, Al Baeed Magazine, Kikah Magazine, Al Araby UK, and Al Democrati, a Sudanese newspaper.

About the Emcee:

Michael Reynolds is Executive Publisher of London- and New York-based independent publisher, Europa Editions. He received the 2016 Golden Colophon Award for Superlative Achievement & Leadership in Independent Literary Publishing, awarded by the Community of Literary and Magazine Presses, and was a 2017 Epiphany Magazine Honoree for Publishing Excellence. He has served on the jury for the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Gutekunst Prize for Young Translators, and the foreign jury of the Strega Prize. He is a regular speaker at publishing conferences in America and internationally, a member of the Independent Publisher Caucus Steering Committee, and the founder of Books Across Borders. Prize-winning and bestselling authors Michael has worked with at Europa include Mieko Kawakami, Elena Ferrante, Domenico Starnone, Ian Williams, Anne Berest, Joseph O’Connor, and Alexander Maksik. He is also an author and a translator whose published translations include three historical mysteries by Carlo Lucarelli, and Viola Di Grado’s prize-winning novel, 70% Acrylic 30% Wool.