We are so pleased to announce that our own Kimiko Hahn has just been elected as one of the fifteen-member Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets.

“All that we publish, program, and promote at the Academy of American Poets is fueled by the collective wisdom, imagination, and expertise of our Chancellors,” said Tess O’Dwyer, Chair of the Board. “It’s exhilarating to congratulate poets extraordinaire Kimiko Hahn, Ilya Kaminsky, Ed Roberson, and Patricia Smith on their election and welcome them into the leadership of the Academy.”

Chancellors serve six-year terms during which they consult with the organization on artistic matters, judge the organization’s largest legacy prizes for American poets, and act as ambassadors of poetry in the world at large. 

To read more about this momentous feat, please visit the Academy website: https://poets.org/academy-names-new-chancellors-hahn-kaminsky-roberson-smith

Congratulations, Kimiko!!!

MFA alum Ariel Francisco (Translation, 2021) has a new poem in this issue of The New Yorker!

Congratulations! So proud of you, Ariel!!!

Read “Baton Bleu” here:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/23/baton-bleu

MFA alum Eric Becker’s latest translation, of Lilia M. Schwarcz’s Brazilian Authoritarianism: Past and Present (Princeton University Press), is available now wherever books are sold. This book from Princeton University Press, digs beneath the mythos of the tolerant and peaceful Brazilian society, to reveal a more troubling truth.

It’s sure to be a fascinating read, made all the more poignant by Eric’s adept translation!

https://bookshop.org/p/books/brazilian-authoritarianism-past-and-present-lilia-moritz-schwarcz

Now in their 20th year, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants promote the publication and reception of translated world literature into English. Established by a gift from Priscilla and Michael Henry Heim in response to the dismayingly low number of literary translations appearing in English, the fund has supported more than 200 projects.

Richard Prins’ translation from the Swahili of Walenisi by Katama Mkangi

From the judges’ citation: A touchstone of Kenyan literature, Katama Mkangi’s Walenisi begins with a reimagination of events from the dictatorial Kenyatta and Moi regimes. The novel’s protagonist, sentenced to death for “talking too much,” miraculously escapes his fate by piloting the space ship intended as his grave to the utopian planet Walenisi, where a journey of self-discovery begins. Blending parable and science fiction, Mkangi, who was imprisoned for his pro-democracy advocacy, satirizes global capitalism and postcolonial authoritarianism while presenting a speculative vision of an egalitarian future. Richard Prins translates this thrilling ride with humor and verve — a rare chance for English-speakers to read an Africanfuturist work originally written in an indigenous African language.

https://pen.org/literary-awards/grants-fellowships/announcing-the-2023-pen-america-literary-grant-winners/

The MFA Program is delighted to announce that Crystal Hana Kim will be visiting professor in the program for the academic year 2022/2023.

Crystal Hana Kim is the author of If You Leave Me, which was a Booklist Editor’s Choice title and named a best book of 2018 by over a dozen publications. She is the recipient of the 2022 National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award and is a 2017 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize winner. Currently, Kim is the Visiting Assistant Professor at Queens College and a contributing editor at Apogee Journal. Her second novel, The Stone Home, is forthcoming from William Morrow / HarperCollins.