Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright (born Elizabeth (Ann) Oehlkers on October 3, 1966) is an American translator.

Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright
photo by Franz Wright
photo by Franz Wright
Born (1966-10-03) October 3, 1966
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
OccupationTranslator
NationalityAmerican
GenreLyric poetry, non-fiction

Biography

Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright translates texts of contemporary German authors, especially lyric poetry, into English. In 1996 she received a MFA for literary translation at the University of Arkansas. From September 1994 till July 1995 during an academic year in Berlin she had been translating, amongst others, the German-Turkish poets Zafer Şenocak and Zehra Çırak. After that she worked as a lecturer in Arkansas, and gave seminars at Boston University and at Oberlin College. Together with Zafer Şenocak she had bilingual readings in Memphis, New York City, Cambridge, San Francisco und Los Angeles.[1] She received several awards and research fellowships like NEA[2] and ALTA. Her translations appear in Agni,[3] Slope,[1] Seneca Review, Another Chicago Magazine and in the online magazine Perihelion.[4]

In 1999 Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright married Franz Wright, poet and Pulitzer Prize winner of 2004.[5] They lived in Waltham, Massachusetts until his death. Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright works at a medical translation agency in Boston.

Translations
  • Ernst Peter Fischer: Beauty and the Beast. The Aesthetic Moment in Science, 1999
  • documentary film directed by Harald Ortlieb about Zehra Çirak and the Berlin sculptor Jürgen Walter, 2007 (translated in collaboration with Marilya Veteto Reese)
  • Zafer Şenocak: Door Languages, 2008[6]
  • Valzhyna Mort: Factory of Tears. Copper Canyon Press, 2008 (translated from Belarusian language in collaboration with the author and Franz Wright)[7]
  • translations for literary journals and anthologies like New European Poets, Anthology of World Literature of the 20th Century and Green Integer. Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century[8]
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References
  1. :: slope issue 11-12 ::
  2. „‚Elizabeth's about the best translator of free verse I've worked with‘, said John DuVal, UA professor of translation. ‚When I consider Elizabeth and her talent for translating, I see her taking Zafer Şenocak, say, and tactfully nudging his words into just the English that best reflects his zany German. Şenocak is full of wit, but his ideas can be difficult to understand, imprecise. Elizabeth's translations bring out the humor of his poetry and communicate his ideas while preserving that indirect style.‘“ In: „The Good Word – Three UA Poets Win Prestigious NEA Fellowships“. Source: Arkansas. The Magazine of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc., Spring 2003, Vol. 52, No. 3
  3. translations of some German poets
  4. Aviya Kushner: „Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright: The Web and Translation“, Poets & Writers, Nov/Dec 2002, Vol. 30, Issue 6, page 55
  5. David Mehegan: Out of the darkness. After battling alcoholism and mental illness, poet Franz Wright has stepped into the light, Boston Globe, May 18, 2004
  6. most of the poems from Fernwehanstalten and some from other books
  7. "Valzhyna Mort, Poet". Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  8. The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century | Volume 7: At Villa Aurora: Nine Contemporary Poets Writing in German | Green Integer Books
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