Friday, October 29, 2021
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Live via Zoom
From historical epics to science fiction and from poetry to indigenous literature, John Balcom’s work in literary translation has spanned many genres and styles. Please join us for a career-spanning conversation with award-winning translator John Balcom, who will discuss his approach to translation and major works. Moderated by CCS Director, Michael Berry.
Professor John Balcom began studying Chinese several decades ago in a summer intensive language course at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He has lived and worked in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and joined the MIIS T&I faculty in 1993. As a translator he has worked in-house and as a freelancer. Balcom is a past president of the American Literary Translators Association and co-chaired the first Salzburg Global Seminar on literary translation. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, including an NEA Translation Fellowship, his translations have won or been nominated for many awards:his Taiwan’s Indigenous Writers:An Anthology of Stories, Poems, and Essays and There’s Nothing I Can Do When I Think of You Late at Night by Cao Naiqian both won Northern California Book Awards; his translation of Huang Fan’s Zero won the Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Award; and his translation of Ya Hsien’s Abyss was a finalist for the PEN Poetry in Translation Award and a Northern California Book Award.
Contact:Center for Chinese Studies, Asia Pacific Center