Xi Chuan reading “Twilight” 暮色
For those of you who can’t make it to any of Xi Chuan’s readings in the US this fall (or for those who want a taste of future readings), here’s a short clip of him from the 2009 International Literary Festival at the Beijing Bookworm, reading an earlier draft of my translation of “Twilight” 暮色 accompanied by “multiple flutist” Bruce Gremo on the celia.
Tinfish Retro Chapbook: Yours Truly & Other Poems
Just in time for his US reading tour, Tinfish Press has published a chapbook of a handful of my Xi Chuan translations under the title Yours Truly & Other Poems, a veritable steal at under $3.00 US (indeed–it’s cheaper than the printing cost, so buy early & often!).
Click on the cover image below for details, an excerpt, and ordering information:
front cover of Tinfish Retro Chapbook
Write-up of Xi Chuan & Zhou Zan’s Port Townsend Reading
Italian translator Matt Rowe attended the recent Xi Chuan / Zhou Zan reading, and offered the following write-up:
Xi Chuan and Zhou Zan read on Saturday 1 October in Port Townsend, the second stop on their U.S. tour for the new anthology Push Open The Window. The audience was small but enthusiastic.
Xi Chuan opened the evening by reading (in Chinese and then English) poems by Mang Ke, Qing Ping, Yi Sha, and his friend Hai Zi, introducing each selection and placing it in the context of the revival of Chinese poetry after the Cultural Revolution. Zhou Zan, editor of the women’s poetry journal Wings, then came to the stage and read selections from women poets including Zhai Yongming; Canadian-American poet Heather McHugh, in attendance, stepped up to read the English translations (though Zhou Zan’s English sounded just fine). The poets then returned to the stage to read their own poetry.
Throw out your preconceptions based on classical Chinese poetry. These poets are translators of everyone from Dante to Milosz and Sontag, and their work has echoes of Dickinson, Whitman, Williams, and many more recent poets. Zhou Zan’s extended metaphor in “Wings” is the equal of any of her American or European feminist counterparts, while Xi Chuan’s “Exercises in Thought” is a maddeningly involuted prose poem that brings to mind Borges or Pessoa.
If you can make it to one of the four remaining stops on the tour, this is an evening not to be missed.
thanks, Matt!
Xi Chuan in Seattle
A semi-professional photographer was at Thursday’s reading in Seattle (I’ll get her photo-documentation soon, I hope), but here’s a picture of Xi Chuan outside the Monsoon Café Paul Manfredi took with his phone:
Xi Chuan outside the Moonsoon Cafe, Seattle
Dialog on Poetry and Poetics: Chinese / American Poetry Conference
Writing from Wuhan 武汉, where we’ve just wrapped up the CAAP conference titled and celebration of Marjorie Perloff‘s 80th birthday, with keynote speakers Charles Bernstein, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Chung Ling 鍾玲 (who translated two books of classical Chinese poetry with Kenneth Rexroth in the ’70s).
I spoke on the sociology of Chinese poetry translation in English (here’s the outline of the program from Bernstein’s blog), but amidst all the impressive talks and presentations, the most valuable part of any conference will always the conversations and connections made in lobbies and over meals.
Xi Chuan & Zhou Zan US Reading Tour for Copper Canyon Press
Xi Chuan will be reading with Zhou Zan 周瓒 to promote the publication of the NEA Anthology Push Open the Window: Contemporary Poetry from China (featuring my translations of three Xi Chuan pieces, as well as some by Qing Ping 清平).
Event Dates:
September 29, 7:00 p.m.
Seattle, WA: Seattle Asian Art Museum
October 1, 7:00 p.m.
Port Townsend, WA: Wheeler Theater, Fort Worden
October 4, 7:00 p.m.
Chicago, IL: Poetry Foundation, 61 West Superior Street
Reading with Li-Young Lee and Maurice Kilwein Guevara
October 6, 8:00 p.m.
Iowa City, IA: Shambaugh House, International Writing Program, University of Iowa
October 10, 8:15 p.m.
New York, NY: Unterberg Poetry Center at 92nd Street Y
Reading with Marilyn Chin and Li-Young Lee; hosted by Forrest Gander
October 12, 7:00 p.m.
Washington D.C.: Library of Congress
Reading followed by discussion with Michael Wiegers
Swedish Press
I stumbled across the following post from a Swedish blog:
Det amerikanska förlaget New Direction publicerar i höst ett urval av Xi Chuans poesi i översättning av Lucas Klein, Notes on the Mosquito. Jag har läst urvalet i manus. En del dikter finns med också i W&W IPs utgåva, men annat är nytt och tidigare inte översatt.Intrycket består. Xi Chuan är en fantastisk poet. Precis, överraskande och ofta hejdlöst rolig. Den allusiva rymden i hans diktning är imponerande. Dikterna spänner självklart över såväl årtusenden som över hela jordklotet.
Who could have written it, and who in Sweden could have read the ms. already, I have no idea, but I’m glad to have the international coverage!
Hello world!
Welcome! This blog is devoted to the poetry of contemporary Chinese poet Xi Chuan 西川 in promotion of his selected poems, forthcoming from New Directions in 2012 under the title Notes on the Mosquito.
The Notes on the Mosquito blog will feature information and links to news, events, and translations of Xi Chuan and Chinese poetry.