Recorded at Poets Forum 2014 as part of our Chancellors Conversations—a series of intimate talks during which the Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets examine issues central to poetry today. In this video, Khaled Mattawa discusses the challenges and importance of poetry in translation: “My musical reference for American languages is the blues…The blues never repeats the line exactly the same, and I feel like if I repeat the line exactly the same it would not hit that interesting note in English, which is to tinker with it a little bit.”
Stay tuned. In the coming weeks we'll feature new videos from last year's Poets Forum, including more discussions on translation featuring Marilyn Hacker and Arthur Sze.