Welcome to Trafika Europe Radio season 4 – the start of our second year!
Schedule
We’ve got a spectacular lineup, starting Sunday 12 September 2021 – with about 6 hours of new literary episodes from across Europe each Sunday!
Right-click to enlarge the above pic for a quick overview of our September 2021 literary lineup.
Here is our launch program for this coming Sunday 12 Sep 2021 in brief, with full show descriptions following below:
SUNDAY 12 SEPT
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11am EDT (US east coast time) = 3pm in Iceland = 4pm in the UK = 5pm in Paris, Berlin, etc.: Eco-Lit #10 – Andri Snær Magnason: author and activist (Iceland)
12pm EDT: Spotlighting the EU Prize for Literature #14 – Tatiana Țîbuleac: The Glass Garden (Moldova-Romania)
1pm EDT: French Forays #13 – Faïza Guène & translator Sarah Ardizzone (French-Algerian)
2pm EDT: Bowery Poetry Speaks #35 – Fiona Sampson (UK)
3pm EDT: The Middle Ground #22 – Andriy Lyubka & translators Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler & Reilly Costigan-Humes: Carbide (Ukraine)
4pm EDT: Women in Translation #33 – Nana Ekvtimishvili: The Pear Field (Georgia)
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Here are the full show descriptions for Sunday 12 Sep 2021:
ECO-10 Andri Snær Magnason (42 minutes)
Icelandic poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, documentary filmmaker, and activist Andri Snær Magnason speaks with host Emma Jones about how environmental concerns and literary activity began to merge for him, and how his early collection, Bonus Poetry, came to be, up through his current work, On Time and Water, shortlisted for the 2021 Nordic Councils Literary Prize. His work has been awarded widely, published and performed in more than 40 countries. Andri ran for President of Iceland in 2016 with environmental issues on his agenda, and came in third; in this interview, he focuses on some recent environmental challenges in Iceland, and implications of this for us generally. Includes bi-lingual poetry performance.
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EUPL-14 Tatiana Țîbuleac (38 minutes)
Moldovan-Romanian author Tatiana Țîbuleac speaks with host Andrew Singer about her European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL)-awarded second novel, The Glass Garden, how storytelling can help bridge and heal divides of political systems, families, and cultural developments over time, the relation of journalism to literature, and of Moldovan to Romanian identity. We are pleased to present this series in cooperation with the EUPL and these partners: Creative Europe, The European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European Publishers, and the European and International Booksellers Federation.
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FF-13 Faïza Guène & Sarah Ardizzone
French author and director of Algerian origin Faïza Guène and translator Sarah Ardizzone speak with host Clayton McKee about the novel, Men Don’t Cry (Cassava Republic, UK). They discuss Algerian culture and identity in Paris, the evolution and story of this book, their moving long-term cooperation on translating Faïza’s works into English, and some changing social mores with Arabs in France. They also outline a forthcoming work, Discretion, due out from Saqi Books. Includes bi-lingual performance from Men Don’t Cry.
You can read an excerpt from an earlier draft of Men Don’t Cry in Trafika Europe 6 – Arabesque, right here:
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BPS-37 Fiona Sampson (51 minutes)
Joe Williams hosts this sublime conversation with UK poet, author, translator, and editor Fiona Sampson. They speak about the formative nature of Welsh poetry. Fiona discusses our relation nowadays with Romantic and Victorian poetry, and the process of literary biography, in the context of her recently published volume, Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (W. W. Norton & Company, 2021). She reflects on her own long poetic development and shares poems from her latest collection, Come Down (Corsair, 2020) – winner of the 2020 European Lyric Atlas Prize and 2021 Wales Book of the Year Award. She details her experience bringing especially Eastern European / Balkan writers into English as a translator, editor, and organizer, and she considers issues of self and other in our evolving cultural identities.
By the way, we’re pleased to welcome Fiona Sampson as the newest member of our Trafika Europe advisory board. She will also be hosting several Trafika Europe Radio episodes with European poets and authors coming up this season – so please stay tuned for that!
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TMG-22 Andriy Lyubka, Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler, & Reilly Costigan-Humes (42 minutes)
Ukrainian author, poet, translator, essayist, and literary organizer Andriy Lyubka speaks about his novel, Carbide (Jantar Publishing) in conversation with the book’s translators Reilly Costigan-Hughes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler, hosted by Joe Williams. The Los Angeles Review of Books says this book “establishes the young author as Ukraine’s modern-day Voltaire.” The group discusses the book’s themes of national and European identity, smuggling and corruption, and we hear excerpts read bi-lingually.
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WiT-33 Nana Ekvtimishvili (42 minutes)
Georgian author Nana Ekvtimishvili speaks with host Sarah Meyer about her debut novel, The Pear Field (Peirene Press, in English translation by Elizabeth Heighway), longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. We enjoy excerpts from this novel, and Nana also describes aspects of life in Georgia and her role as a prominent filmmaker.
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And here’s the rest of September on Trafika Europe Radio:
SUNDAY 19 SEPT
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11am EDT: Literary Music #1 (new series debut!) – Sana Shepko of Korinya Ukrainian Folk Band
12pm EDT: Spotlighting the EU Prize for Literature #15 – Haska Shyyan: Behind Their Backs (Ukraine)
1pm EDT: French Forays #14 – Pierre Vinclair (French poet)
2pm EDT: Bowery Poetry Speaks #36 – World Kid Lit Month with Claire Storey et al.
3pm EDT: The Middle Ground #23 – Alistair Ian Blyth: Card Catalogue (Romania)
4pm EDT: SPECIAL PRESENTATION! Trafika Europe Radio Theater #4 – Life is a Dream – performance & discussion (Spanish Baroque theater)
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Here are the full show descriptions for SUNDAY 19 SEP 2021:
LM-01 Sana Shepko / Korinya Ukrainian Folk Band (45 minutes)
In this new series premiere – Literary Music – folk musician Sana Shepko speaks with host Cameron Green about her work with Korinya Ukrainian Folk Band. She discusses lyrical and instrumental themes in Ukrainian folk music in light of traditional folktales, celebrations, and various ethnic groups’ folk music in and around Ukraine, such as the Lemkos and Hutsuls. Includes several musical tracks.
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EUPL-15 Haska Shyyan (37 minutes)
Ukrainian author Haska Shyyan speaks with host Andrew Singer about her European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL)-awarded novel, Behind Their Backs. She explores the complexity of current Ukrainian society and reflects on the cultural and literary life in light of present-day patriotism. We are pleased to present this series in cooperation with the EUPL and these partners: Creative Europe, The European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European Publishers, and the European and International Booksellers Federation.
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FF-14 Pierre Vinclair – French poet (49 minutes)
French author Pierre Vinclair speaks with host Alexander Dickow, about his wide body of work as a poet, novelist, translator, editor, and essayist. They consider the relation of artifice to direct communication, and we enjoy a sampling of his poetry, starting with his latest book of sonnets, Sans adresse (Éditions Lurlure, 2019). He considers the value of American poetry in France, they discuss the seminal literary journal he directs, Catastrophes, and they explore the role of literary translation.
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BPS-36 #WorldKidLitMonth (57 minutes)
September is World Kid Lit Month! In this lovely episode, host Andrew Singer speaks with the co-editor of this wide-ranging project, Claire Storey, as well as publisher Greet Pauwelijn of Book Island, and translator Ros Schwartz, and we enjoy excerpts from several new works of children’s literature, performed by these guests and by translator Laura Watkinson. To learn more: https://worldkidlit.wordpress.com/
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TMG-23 Alistair Ian Blyth: Card Catalogue (37 minutes)
Romanian author Alistair Ian Blyth speaks with host Andrew Singer about his new novel, Card Catalogue (Dalkey Archive Press). He speaks about the genesis of this book in his obsession with Russian literature, we discuss the unique structure of this book and how reality and fiction intertwine in the world, and we enjoy excerpt performances by the author.
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TERT-04 Life is a Dream (67 minutes)
Please join us for an original Trafika Europe Radio Theater premiere! Calderón de la Barca’s “Life Is a Dream” (a Spanish Baroque allegorical play) is here translated, excerpted, and adapted for radio by Emma Jones, with a cast from Carnegie Mellon University – with translation assistance from Brynn Durecki, Andrew Lee, and Cameron Mills, under the direction of Dr. Alejandra Juno Rodriguez Villar, Associate Professor of Spanish at Hanover College. This is a little-known, second version of this play from 1677, yet to be published in English! After the performance, please stay tuned for an informative and engaging discussion on the production of this play and its Baroque context, with Emma Jones and Dr. Alejandra Villar, hosted by Andrew Singer.
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SUNDAY 26 SEPT
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11am EDT: Eco-Lit #11 – Lucy Ellmann & Todd McEwen (UK)
12pm EDT: Spotlighting the EU Prize for Literature #16 – Nathalie Skowronek: A Map of Regrets (Belgium)
1pm EDT: French Forays #14 – Sophie Lewis (tr.): Poetics of Work by Noémi Lefebvre (France)
2pm EDT: The Joe Show #1 (new series debut!) – on literary Fado music (Portugal)
3:15pm EDT: The Middle Ground #24 – Khrystia Vengryniuk (Ukraine)
4pm EDT: Women in Translation #34 – Jana Bodnárová: Necklace/Choker (Slovakia)
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Here are the full show descriptions for SUNDAY 26 SEP 2021:
ECO-11 Lucy Ellmann & Todd McEwen (50 minutes)
Host Ismail Ibrahim speaks with the author couple Lucy Ellmann and Todd McEwen, resident in Edinburgh, about the present state of the world. They consider the field of eco-literature, its roles and effects in fiction and poetry. Todd describes The Evergreen and reads a sample of his work from this renewed magazine, and we enjoy a long passage from Lucy’s novel, Ducks, Newburyport, available from Galley Beggar Press.
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EUPL-16 Nathalie Skowronek: The Map of Regrets (59 minutes)
Belgian author Nathalie Skowronek speaks with host Andrew Singer about her European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL)-awarded novel, The Map of Regrets. She details how she came to focus on her family’s heritage, in the wider context of 20th-century Jewish history, and we enjoy readings from this book in original French and in English translation by Jeffrey Zuckerman. She considers the relation of French to Belgian elements of identity and recommends some favorite contemporary authors on both sides of this. She also discusses the role of teaching as an author. Nathalie’s answers are presented fully bi-lingually (French-English), translated by Clayton McKee and read by Sarah Meyer.
This series is presented in cooperation with the EUPL and these partners: Creative Europe, The European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European Publishers, and the European and International Booksellers Federation.
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FF-15 Sophie Lewis: on Noémi Lefebvre’s Poetics of Work (47 minutes)
Author, editor, and translator Sophie Lewis speaks with host Abigail Haber about her translation from French of Noémi Lefebvre’snovel, Poetics of Work. Sophie explains her translation philosophy and practice in relation to this work, which mixes both prose and verse, and to her projects more generally, and she explores colloquialisms in literary translation and how a translator’s choices affect the wider publishing world.
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JOE-01 On Portuguese Fado (73 minutes)
In this new series, The Joe Show, host Joe Williams takes documentary-style deep dives into European literary communities. Join us in this premiere episode as Joe discovers how fado has evolved from an anonymous folk tradition into a highly literary, musical, and often political form. Joe travels between the two bastions of Portuguese fado, the cities of Coimbra and Lisbon, to speak on location with performers, authors and experts on fado’s distinct regional variations. Includes fado songs.
You can enjoy a brief video teaser for this episode on our Facebook page.
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TMG-24 Khrystia Vengryniuk – Chernivtsi: meaningchaseplace (54 minutes)
Ukrainian author Khrystia Vengryniuk speaks with host Kate Tsurkan all about her city, Chernivtsi, as a topos of literature. She discusses the war in eastern Ukraine and its experience in literature, and she compares the contemporary Ukrainian and Bulgarian literary scenes. We also hear her tribute essay, “Chernivtsi: meaningchaseplace”, in English translation by Nina Murray and Kate Tsurkan. You can read this essay in the Essays section of Trafika Europe, right here. Khrystia’s answers are fully bilingual (Ukrainian-English), live interpreted by Tetiana Savchynska.
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WiT-34 Jana Bodnárová: Necklace/Choker (34 minutes)
Host Joe Williams speaks with Slovak author Jana Bodnárová about her novel, Necklace/Choker, due out from Seagull Books in English translation by Jonathan Gresty. She describes the novel, encompassing Central-Eastern European history in the period 1938-2015, and we enjoy excerpts in original and read in English by Sarah Meyer. The two discuss issues of translation and cultural context, and they consider how the literary scene has developed in Slovakia in recent decades.
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