News from the Division of Languages and Literature

Italian professor Joseph Luzzi conveys the challenges of translating Dante's masterpiece as he reviews a new translation by Clive James.

Bard professor and world-renowned author Norman Manea was well received at the prestigious Salon du Livre in Paris. Manea was an honorary guest at the event in March, which was dedicated to Romanian literature. The French press praised Manea's participation and his new book, The Fifth Impossibility: Essays on Exile and Language. During the Salon du Livre Manea gave interviews, participated in a public debate, and spoke to a large audience about Romanian history and literature. Click here to download PDF.

Conjunctions:60, In Absentia—the latest issue of the innovative literary magazine published by Bard College—gathers a collection of today’s leading contemporary writers to explore the presence of absence, the losses that gain on us, the black holes in our everyday lives.

Bard professor and award-winning author Francine Prose has been traveling for speaking engagements. Most recently, she spoke and taught as part of the Chautauqua Poets and Writers series in Oregon.

Bard alumnus Nsikan Akpan '06 made the jump from biomedical research to science journalism, and gives advice to his fellow science writers on how to do the same.

A production of The Bakkhai (The Bacchae) by Bard College students takes place at the Fisher Center through April 14. Sunday's events also include a panel discussion, "Euripides' The Bakkhai: Play and Performance" with Daniel Mendelsohn (Bard College), Helene Foley (Barnard), Rachel Kitzinger (Vassar), and Emily Wilson (University of Pennsylvania). The panel is free and open to the public.

Cultural commentator Seth Rogovoy gives the Fisher Center's "Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer" a rave review.

Writer Rusty Morrison interviews Bard literature professor and Conjunctions editor Bradford Morrow. The article also includes the full text of Morrow's short story "The Hoarder" from his book The Uninnocent.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the poet C. P. Cavafy. Here, Cavafy translator and Bard professor Daniel Mendelsohn reads “Aboard the Ship” (1919) and “Birth of a Poem” (1922).

This weekend's Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman show at the Fisher Center will feature music, readings, surprises ... and possible magic.

Bard literature professor and author Mona Simpson will join members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on April 15 in the final performance of their "Westside Connections" series, in which celebrated musicians and authors together explore the relationship between music and story.

On Monday, April 8, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Bard Fiction Prize winner, and New York Times bestselling author Karen Russell will read from her work. Russell’s highly acclaimed 2011 novel Swamplandia was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2011, and a recipient of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.