Reading Translations for Columbia University Harriman Institute

I will be reading my translations of Maria Galina virtually for Columbia University's Harriman Institute this Thursday at 3:00 pm EST in celebration of Anna Halberstadt's anthology of contemporary Russian poetry. Please join us for the webinar!

https://harriman.columbia.edu/event/virtual-event-anthology-contemporary-russian-poetry-translation

A NATIVITY POEM BY JOSEPH BRODSKY ("NO MATTER . . . ")

NATIVITY (“NO MATTER . . . “ )

by Joseph Brodsky

Translated by Larissa Shmailo

No matter what surrounded them and

what the blizzard wailed at the sand,

that their shepherd’s den was close, nor

that they had no place else anywhere:

First, they were together. Second (mainly),

they were a threesome now, and, plainly,

all created, anticipated, or gifted for them

was now shared by three, at a minimum.

Above, in the icy sky over their camp,

with the habit of big towering over slight,

glittered a star, which, from then on, had

nowhere to hide from the baby’s sight.

The bonfire blazed till the log’s last ember,

and everyone slept. The star, unlike others,

greater than its glow, at its absolute nadir

could know an alien as a beloved neighbor.

Не важно, что было вокруг, и не важно,

о чем там пурга завывала протяжно,

что тесно им было в пастушьей квартире,

что места другого им не было в мире.

Во-первых, они были вместе. Второе,

и главное, было, что их было трое,

и всё, что творилось, варилось, дарилось

отныне, как минимум, на три делилось.

Морозное небо над ихним привалом

с привычкой большого склоняться над малым

сверкало звездою -- и некуда деться

ей было отныне от взгляда младенца.

Костер полыхал, но полено кончалось;

все спали. Звезда от других отличалась

сильней, чем свеченьем, казавшимся лишним,

способностью дальнего смешивать с ближним.

Modern Russian Poetry in Translation - Reading 11/2

Saturday, November 2, 2019 @ 2 - 5pm

Larissa Shmailo with Anna Halberstadt, Anton Yakovlev, many others 

Modern Russian Poetry in Translation (the Cafe Review)

Tomkins Square Library

331 East 10th Street, NYC

Free

https://www.facebook.com/events/516353112550420/

Contact 212 712 9865

(larissa@larissashmailo.com)

FROM PUSHKIN TO PUSSY RIOT: RUSSIAN POLITICAL POETRY AND PROSE

It's here! The special issue of Matter, FROM PUSHKIN TO PUSSY RIOT, RUSSIAN POLITICAL POETRY AND PROSE, guest edited by Larissa Shmailo and Philip Nikolayev (Филипп Николаев) with work by Alexander Skidan, Maria Galina, Inna Kabysh, Dennis Novikov, Tatyana Shcherbina, Maria Alyokhina, Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova, Olga Livshin, Katherine Young. Michael T. Young, Igor Satanovsky, Katia Kapovich, Polina Barskova, Anna Halberstadt, Irina Mashinski, Dmitry Kuzmin, Lev Rubinstein, Alexandar Mihailovic, Olga Florensky, Alexei Tsvetkov Алексей Цветков, Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Olga Chugai, Dean Kostos, Alexander Veytsman and many more! Special thanks to Matter editors Virginia Konchan and Glenn Shaheen, with additional thanks to Jonathan Penton for invaluable assistance!

MATTERMONTHLY.COM

Matter

A (somewhat) monthly journal of political poetry and commentary

NEW TRANSLATIONS IN THE CAFE REVIEW

I am pleased to have new translations of contemporary poet Maria Galina in the special Russia issue of The Cafe Review edited by Anna Halberstadt!

A NATIVITY POEM BY JOSEPH BRODSKY

NATIVITY (“NO MATTER . . . “ )
by Joseph Brodsky

Translated by Larissa Shmailo

No matter what surrounded them and
what the blizzard wailed at the sand,
that their shepherd’s den was close, nor
that they had no place else anywhere:

First, they were together. Second (mainly),
they were a threesome now, and, plainly,
all created, anticipated, or gifted for them
was now shared by three, at a minimum.

Above, in the icy sky over their camp,
with the habit of big towering over slight,
glittered a star, which, from then on, had
nowhere to hide from the baby’s sight.

The bonfire blazed till the log’s last ember,
and everyone slept. The star, unlike others,
greater than its glow, at its absolute nadir
could know an alien as a beloved neighbor.

                        ***
Не важно, что было вокруг, и не важно,
о чем там пурга завывала протяжно,
что тесно им было в пастушьей квартире,
что места другого им не было в мире.

Во-первых, они были вместе. Второе,
и главное, было, что их было трое,
и всё, что творилось, варилось, дарилось
отныне, как минимум, на три делилось.

Морозное небо над ихним привалом
с привычкой большого склоняться над малым
сверкало звездою -- и некуда деться
ей было отныне от взгляда младенца.

Костер полыхал, но полено кончалось;
все спали. Звезда от других отличалась
сильней, чем свеченьем, казавшимся лишним,
способностью дальнего смешивать с ближним.

Joseph Brodsky, 1990

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY RUSSIAN POETRY AT THE POETRY SCHOOL

Delighted that the Poetry School is using Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry,  the

 anthology of ultra-contemporary Russian verse I edited, as the basis of their course, 

Transreading Russia.

https://poetryschool.com/courses/transreading-russia/

Description:

‘We are Russian and we have extra genes for compassion and asking unanswerable questions,’ writes Larissa Shmailo, editor of Twenty-First Century Russian Poetry. This online anthology of 50 poets in English translation becomes our essential reading in the course that invites us to look at present-day Russia through its poetry, beyond the looming news of Putinism. We will write our own poems in response to the ‘accursed questions’ posed by contemporary Russian poets about ‘the meaning of life, love, suffering, God and the devil.’ As the anthology boasts a wide range of approaches, from experimental to lyric to language poetry, we can expand our own repertoire of engaging with similar questions: by offering tentative answers or formulating new questions. To celebrate creative writing as translation and translation as creative writing, we will be joined by our special guest, Sasha Dugdale, poet and translator from Russian, who will talk to us about her work, also as the editor of the Russian and Ukrainian focus of Modern Poetry in Translation. In cooperation with the journal, we will create new poems inspired by this themed issue – the texts will be published on the MPT website as a featured project.

My Gumiliev acrostic translation on Russian Gumiliev.ru site!

https://gumilev.ru/languages/706/

My Gumiliev translation to be published on Gumiliev.ru!

Very pleased that my translation of one of Nikolai Gumiliev's acrostic poems on the name of Anna Akhmatova will be published on Gumiliev.ru!

Larissa Shmailo

Nikolai Gumiliev (April 15,1886 – August 25, 1921) on the name of the poet’s wife, Anna Akhmatova. I have used successive kh to transliterate the Russian x in Akhmatova’s name.

Acrostic
Addis Ababa, city of roses.
Near the bank of transparent streams,
No earthly devas brought you here,
A diamond, amidst gloomy gorges.
Armidin garden … There a pilgrim
Keeps his oath of obscure love
(Mind, we all bow before him),
And the roses cloy, the roses red.
There, full of deceit and venom,
Ogles some gaze into the soul,
Via forests of tall sycamores,
And alleyways of dusky planes.

Tr. L. Shmailo

Акростих
Аддис-Абеба, город роз.
На берегу ручьёв прозрачных,
Небесный див тебя принес,
Алмазной, средь ущелий мрачных.
Армидин сад… Там пилигрим
Хранит обет любви неясной
(Мы все склоняемся пред ним),
А розы душны, розы красны.
Там смотрит в душу чей-то взор,
Отравы полный и обманов,
В садах высоких сикомор,
Аллеях сумрачных платанов.

Save the Date: National Translation Month Reading 9/17

Thanks for downloading my audio Pushkin!

Thanks, friends, for downloading my recording of my translation of Alexander Pushkin's "I loved you once . . . " Here is the track from my CD The No-Net World for your enjoyment.


I loved you once . . .

Translation of “Dyr bul shchyl” by Alexei Kruchenykh

Russian zaum poem 

Дыр бул щыл
убещур
скум
вы со бу
р л эз

English transliteration

Dyr bul shchyl
ubeshchur
skum
vy so bu
r l ez

Translation of "Dyr Bul Shchyl" into Unglish*

Pot nag chog

anichat

blax

you be na

t g id

*With thanks for the term Unglish to mIEKAL aND

AWP Panels - please join me in Minneapolis!

I am pleased to be on two exciting panels at the AWP Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Please be sure to join us!


Daughters of Baba Yaga: The Eastern European Woman Poet in the United States

Number: R270

Moderator: Larissa Shmailo

With Katia Kapovich, Irina Mashinski, Gloria Mindock, Annie Pluto

Date/Time: Thursday, April 9, 4:30 to 5:45 pm

Room 205 C&D Level 2




From Pushkin to Pussy Riot: Poetics and Politics of Translating Russian Poetry

Number: S212

Moderator: Phil Metres

With Larissa Shmailo, Alex Cigale, Matvei Yankelevich

Date/Time: Saturday,  April 11, 1:30 to 2:45pm

Room 205 C&D, Level 2

Translations up at National Translation Month website

An excerpt from my translation of Aleksei Kruchenych's Victory over the Sun and Arseny Tarkovsky's "June 25, 1939" are up at the National Translation month website today!



http://nationaltranslationmonth.com/new-translations-from-the-russian-by-larissa-shmailo-2/

For National Translation Month (NTM), a newly revised Pushkin

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (June 6, 1799 – February 10, 1837)

I loved you once, and this love still, it may be,
Is not extinguished fully in my soul;
But let’s no longer have this love dismay you:
To trouble you is not my wish at all.
I loved you once quite wordlessly, without hope,
Tortured shyness, jealous rage I bore.
I loved you once so gently and sincerely:
God grant another love you thus once more

Tr. L. Shmailo

Я вас любил: любовь еще, быть может,
В душе моей угасла не совсем;
Но пусть она вас больше не тревожит;
Я не хочу печалить вас ничем.
Я вас любил безмолвно, безнадежно,
То робостью, то ревностью томим;
Я вас любил так искренно, так нежно,
Как дай вам бог любимой быть другим.

Compass Translation Award Ceremony

I'm please to be reading at the Compass Award-2014 Ceremony, which will take place at Poets House in New York, on Saturday, January 17 at 4:00 pm.

The presentation of Compass awards for Arseniy Tarkovsky translations will happen in conjunction with the launch of Volume 4 of Cardinal Points literary journal (presented by StoSvet Project, together with MadHat Press http://madhat-press.com/ and Russian-American Cultural Center http://www.russianamericanculture.com/ ).

This year's Compass Award Ceremony is dedicated to the memory of George Kline and Nina Cassian, both esteemed Cardinal Points friends and authors.

The poet for the 2015 contest will be announced at the Award Ceremony.

With questions concerning the event, please contact Alexander Veytsman, the Director of the Compass Award at compass@stosvet.net