Also in Spain the translator of the poems of Amanda Gorman described as “inappropriate” | Abroad

Gorman became an instant star when she wrote one of her poems – The hill we climb – candidate At the inauguration of US President Joe Biden in January. Last month, there was an uproar in the Netherlands over the fact that the publisher responsible for translating a poetry collection of the Black Poet had chosen a white person to do the job. However, this was done with the approval of the Gorman team. Translator Marek Lucas Reinfeld ended up returning the job.

The same scenario is now set in Spain, with the Catalan translation for The hill we climb. Victor Opiols was commissioned last month to translate Oprah Winfrey’s poem and introduction. But when he finished, he said he was told that he “does not have the correct profile”. Suddenly the publisher wanted a “translator” to be “young, active, and preferably black.”

Barcelona publishing house Universe Universe on Wednesday admitted to Spanish news agency Evie that – after completing Opiols translation – it had received a request from the American group Viking Books for Young Readers to do the translation as an African-American activist, if possible. the roots. Viking Books for Young Readers is the American publisher of Gorman’s poem.

“They did not question my qualities,” Opiols told AFP. The publisher also promised to pay him a fee for his work. “But if I cannot accurately translate a poet because she is a young black woman of the twenty-first century, then I cannot translate Homer either because I am not a Greek of the eighth century B.C. or Shakespeare because I am not an English man of the sixteenth century.”

No one has yet been assigned to a Catalan translation.

– Like Biden, she overcame speech barriers and stunned the world upon opening: We know this about poet Amanda Gorman who wants to become president in 2036 (+)

Poet Amanda Gorman responds to post-inauguration success