Brian Robert Moore on the Italian Writer Michele Mari

The guest for this episode is Brian Robert Moore. He spoke about his stint in Italy as a publisher and editor and his translation of the beautiful short story collection You, Bleeding Childhood, written by the great Italian author Michele Mari.

Brian Robert Moore is a literary translator originally from New York City. His published and forthcoming translations from Italian include Meeting in Positano by Goliarda Sapienza (Other Press), A Silence Shared by Lalla Romano (Pushkin Press), and You, Bleeding Childhood and Verdigris by Michele Mari (And Other Stories). His translations of shorter works have appeared in 3:AM Magazine, Asymptote, Brick, The Nation, The Poetry Review, and elsewhere. His translation of Michele Mari’s story “The Soccer Balls of Mr. Kurz” won the O. Henry Award for short stories for the year 2023. He also won the 2021 PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature and was selected for a translation residency at the Casa delle Traduzioni in Rome. After receiving degrees from Brown University (BA in Comparative Literature, Italian studies) and Trinity College Dublin (MPhil, Irish Writing), he worked for several years in Italian publishing, including as an editor of literary fiction in translation.

(June 1, 2024; 49 minutes)

Photo by Daniel Horowitz

Ann Goldstein in Harshaneeyam

Ann Goldstein has been an editor and the head of copy desk at The New Yorker. She worked for the magazine for over 40 years. She has translated works of famous Italian writers like Elena Ferrante and Paolo Pasolini. She is the editor of The Complete Works of Primo Levi in English. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the PEN Renato Poggioli prize, and awards from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was the panel chair for translated fiction at the US National Book Award in 2022.

In this episode, she spoke about her stint at The New Yorker, her translation of Elena Ferrante’s novels, editing Primo Levi’s complete works and the Italian writer Marina Jarre, whose Italian novel she translated into English as Distant Fathers.

(September 16, 2023; 47 minutes)

Leah Janeczko on ‘The Women at Hitler’s Table‘

Originally from Chicago, Leah Janeczko has lived in Milan since 1991. For over 25 years she’s been an Italian-to-English translator of fiction for all ages. Her recent translations include Glowrushes by Roberto Piumini, who has been nominated three times for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Her other notable translations are The Women at Hitler’s Table by Rosella Postorino, winner of the 2018 Campiello Prize, and Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo, which was longlisted for the 2024 International Booker Prize.

In this episode, Leah talked about her journey into translations, her translation of The Women at Hitler’s Table, and her love for translating fiction.

(October 18, 2023; 33 minutes.)

Oonagh Stransky on Translating ‘The House on Via Gemito‘

Longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2024

Our guest for this episode is translator Oonagh Stransky. She spoke about her translation of The House on Via Gemito, which is longlisted for the International Booker 2024. Oonagh Stransky’s translations from the Italian include works by Montale, Dell’Oro, Pontiggia, Lucarelli, Spaziani, Saviano, and Pope Francis. Shorter translations have appeared in a number of literary reviews, including The New England Review, Exchanges, The Massachusetts Review, The Southern Humanities Review, and The Literary Review. Her publications have received the Silver Dagger Award and, on two occasions, UK PEN Translates grants. Born in Paris, Oonagh grew up in Beirut, Jeddah, London, and Boston; she studied Comparative Literature at Mills College, UC Berkeley and the Università di Firenze; and she obtained a Master’s degree in Italian from Columbia University. She currently lives in Italy.

(March 22, 2024; 16 minutes)