Poet and translator Keith Ekiss will be featured in two upcoming readings at Linfield College.
Ekiss, along with Sonia Ticas, Linfield professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, will read poems by Costa Rica’s leading 20th Century poet Eunice Odio on Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m. in the Nicholson Library Reading Room at Linfield. Ekiss and Ticas will read a selection of translated poems from various phases of Odio’s work, soon to be published under the title “Territory of Dawn.” Odio is a groundbreaking poet who delves deeply into the creative power of language as exemplified in her epic poem, “Tránsito de fuego” (“The Fire’s Journey”).
Ekiss will also read from his own poetry, including the collection, “Pima Road Notebook,” on Thursday, April 21, at 11:45 a.m. in Jonasson Hall in Melrose Hall at Linfield.
Ekiss is a former Wallace Stegner fellow and Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University. He is also the past recipient of the Witter Bynner Translators Residency from the Santa Fe Art Institute for his work on Eunice Odio. His teaching interests include the craft of poetry, the intersections between poetry and film, and non-realist forms of prose writing.
Ticas has been collaborating with Ekiss since 2001 in translation of Odio’s poetry. She has also translated poems by Salvadoran writers residing in the United States for a bilingual anthology, “Teatro bajo mi piel” (“Theater Under my Skin”). Ticas’ area of research is in gender, women’s writing and women’s history in Central America.
These events are free, open to the public and sponsored by the Nicholson Library and the English and modern language departments at Linfield College. For more information contact Sonia Ticas at 503-883-2367 or sticas@linfield.edu.
