Book of Exercises II, by George Seferis, translated from the Greek by Jennifer Kellogg
The translator will be joined in conversation by poet Anastasia Nikolis.
Winner of the 2024 Elizabeth Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize from the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA), Book of Exercises II is the first English translation of legendary Greek poet Seferis’s lesser-known political, satiric, and erotic poetry, as well as previously unseen material from his diaries.
Poet, diplomat, and literary critic George Seferis (1900–1971) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963. He is known to most readers as a myth-loving modernist. Published by World Poetry, this multi-genre volume, containing political, satiric, erotic, panegyric, and calligraphic poems drawn from the poet’s diaries between 1931 to 1971—opens up a hitherto unknown Seferis to English-language readers, offering a closer look at his creative process, opinions, and personal life.
“The starkly prophetic voice of George Seferis is unmistakable in this valuable gathering of poems . . . Seferis could be speaking to our moment—and in their dark wisdom, the poems seem to know it. Three quarters of a century have only strengthened the power of this vision and this voice.” —Rachel Hadas
“In these stellar translations of one of modern Greece’s most vital voices, we are afforded a fuller sense of this bedrock poet’s range. —Eleni Sikelianos
“After so many decades of translations and retranslations, many of us in the committee were taken aback by how this book really does draw out fresh nuance from Seferis, and it achieves this not only through the idea-worlds of the poems themselves but through Kellogg’s deft, daring, and often acrobatic translations. … Kellogg’s book will doubtlessly help a broad and diverse readership to open new, inviting windows not only onto Seferis himself but onto Greek literature more generally”. —Judges’ Citation for the Elizabeth Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize
Jennifer R. Kellogg is a literary translator from Modern Greek and holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). In 2019 she was an Emerging Translator Mentee of the American Literary Translators Association. Her translations have appeared in The Common and Kenyon Review.
Anastasia Nikolis is an Assistant Professor of English at St. John Fisher University. Her academic research focuses on confession and secrecy in post-1945 American poetry, with special interest in poetry and the public humanities. In her creative writing, she explores the intersections of visual art, place, and the body. You can find her work in Stone Canoe, Ghost City Review, Arkansas International, the LA Review of Books, and the Adroit Journal.
PRESS
Reviewed by Eric Bies for Open Letters Review
Jennifer Kellogg wins the the 2024 Elizabeth Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize for Book of Exercises II
This is a hybrid event in-person at Writers & Books, 740 University Avenue and streamed online via Zoom.
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