04/16/2026
Exciting events in Latin American Literary Translation, organized by LAIS and CHCS
Unfaithful: Translation, Poetry, and Global Latin American Literature
Tuesday, April 21 | 4:00pm – 5:30pm | Location: Campus Center 03-3540
Guest Speakers: Suzanne Jill Levine (translator, Professor Emerita UCSB), Ricardo Domeneck (poet), Chris Daniels (translator)
This scholarly panel brings together translator and critic Suzanne Jill Levine, Brazilian poet Ricardo Domeneck, and translator Chris Daniels to explore the creative, political, and embodied practice of translation in contemporary Latin American literature. In Unfaithful: A Translator's Memoir (Bloomsbury, 2025), Levine recounts her influential career translating major Latin American writers such as Manuel Puig and Guillermo Cabrera Infante and reflects on the intimate, improvisational, and often “unfaithful” nature of translation as literary creation. Domeneck’s poetry collection First Epistle to the Amphibians translated by Daniels spans more than two decades of the poet’s body work, a sensual, experimental, and fiercely lyrical corpus that moves across languages, geographies, and literary traditions. Their discussion will illuminate how translation shapes Latin American literature in a global context and how translators and writers negotiate voice, fidelity, embodiment, and creative freedom across languages.
Workshop: The Practice and Craft of Literary Translation in Latin America
Wednesday, April 22 | 11:00am-1:00pm | Location: Campus Center 03-3545
Join us for an immersive literary translation workshop featuring three distinguished guests whose work has shaped contemporary Latin American letters in translation. Our guests will be Suzanne Jill Levine, renowned for her translations of major Latin American writers such as Manuel Puig and Guillermo Cabrera Infante; Ricardo Domeneck, whose poetry and performance practice reimagine Latin American literary traditions within a global, multilingual frame; and Chris Daniels, who has collaborated closely with Domeneck and other contemporary writers. Through a combination of conversation and hands-on practice, students will engage directly with the creative, ethical, and political dimensions of translating Latin American literature across languages and cultures.
