The Japanese Program, the International Writing Program, and the MFA in Literary Translation are thrilled to present Japanese Poetry Now, a workshop and reading featuring two of the brightest names in contemporary Japanese poetry, Kanie Naha and Nagae Yūki, and their translator and collaborator, Professor Jordan Smith of Josai International University, one of the translators of Yoshimasu Gozo's Alice Iris Red Horse (New Directions).
The three have been engaged in a collaborative poetry project that was recently published as [the square root of IC], for which Jordan has both translated and supplied poetry of his own. Their creative process naturally bridges the humanities and the natural sciences (including the language of chemistry and geology), the modern and the premodern (including linked verse), and the multiple scripts of Japanese, English, and places in-between.
WORKSHOP:
Monday, March 19 | 7-9 pm | Shambaugh House, 430 N. Clinton St.
√IC: Redux: Translation, Intervention, and the Dialogic Helix
READING:
Tuesday, March 20 | 7-8 pm | Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque St.
Tokyo Poetry Journal: Legends Under Construction Tour
Kanie Naha (カニエ・ナハ) is the author of five poetry collections and is also active as a book designer. He was shortlisted for the Nakahara Chūya Prize twice before winning it in 2016 for his volume Yōi sareta shokutaku (The Laid Table). His most recent book, IC (short for "interchange"), traces the theme of intersectionality by combining tanka, prose, free verse, and blank pages. His work is available in English translation in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal and Tokyo Poetry Journal.
Nagae Yūki (永方佑樹) received the 2012 Poetry and Thought Newcomer’s Award for her first collection, Lonesome Flowers (Monosabishi no hana). Her most recent collection, √3 (2016), employs the language of trigonometry along with images from the worlds of geology, chemistry, and machinery. She studied classical Japanese literature at Keio University. English translations of her work have appeared in Tokyo Poetry Journal, U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, and Vestiges.
Jordan A. Y. Smith is currently Associate Professor of Inter-cultural Studies at Josai International University. He primarily translates modern/contemporary Japanese poetry but also works on fiction, plays, and the most challenging genre of them all––advertising copy. He is finishing a book for Routledge on Global Comedy and Humour Studies, and writes poetry between Japanese and English.
This event is made possible thanks to generous funding by a Japan Foundation Institutional Project Support (IPS) Grant to the University of Iowa and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS), a part of UI International Programs.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Dongwang Liu at dongwang-liu@uiowa.edu, (319) 335-1305.