WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.200 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:02.220 align:middle line:90% If you have questions. 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:05.130 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.130 --> 00:00:08.010 align:middle line:84% Well I have a comment and a question. 00:00:08.010 --> 00:00:10.440 align:middle line:84% It seemed to me the comment first 00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:15.180 align:middle line:84% that New Directions [INAUDIBLE] of dramatically changing 00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:84% the world of the publishing offer a model because it has 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:27.360 align:middle line:84% survived in such a exotic and idiosyncratic way 00:00:27.360 --> 00:00:30.910 align:middle line:84% and to be where publishing itself is going. 00:00:30.910 --> 00:00:33.840 align:middle line:84% So maybe you have something to say about that and the question 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.990 align:middle line:84% is I first came to New Directions 00:00:36.990 --> 00:00:42.230 align:middle line:90% through Thomas Merton and-- 00:00:42.230 --> 00:00:45.360 align:middle line:90% 00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:48.690 align:middle line:84% I first came to New Directions through Thomas Merton 00:00:48.690 --> 00:00:51.960 align:middle line:84% and Siddhartha and maybe I'm wrong about this, 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:56.250 align:middle line:84% but it seems to me that with Laughlin's death 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:57.960 align:middle line:90% his interest in-- 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.960 align:middle line:84% he was always, it struck me, interested in issues 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:05.310 align:middle line:84% of spirituality, philosophy and that doesn't seem 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:07.450 align:middle line:90% to be the case as much anymore. 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:09.630 align:middle line:84% I don't know if that's been a conscious decision 00:01:09.630 --> 00:01:12.630 align:middle line:84% or maybe I'm just overlooking books that you have published. 00:01:12.630 --> 00:01:17.970 align:middle line:84% So the comment first was about the new directions as a model 00:01:17.970 --> 00:01:23.790 align:middle line:84% for publishing in the brave new world of the net. 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:27.510 align:middle line:84% And the question is has there been a conscious just 00:01:27.510 --> 00:01:31.770 align:middle line:84% drifting away from that particular interest of Laughlin 00:01:31.770 --> 00:01:33.300 align:middle line:84% or is there something I just don't 00:01:33.300 --> 00:01:36.280 align:middle line:90% know about that's going on? 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:38.255 align:middle line:84% So I think that was kind of a two part thing. 00:01:38.255 --> 00:01:39.880 align:middle line:84% It is two part, and I'm sorry for that. 00:01:39.880 --> 00:01:41.983 align:middle line:90% I always hate two part. 00:01:41.983 --> 00:01:42.900 align:middle line:90% Ignore the first part. 00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:44.880 align:middle line:84% I'm much more interested in whether-- 00:01:44.880 --> 00:01:49.860 align:middle line:84% because I follow that kind of writing a lot. 00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:52.410 align:middle line:84% It seems that there's less of it in the new directions list 00:01:52.410 --> 00:01:52.980 align:middle line:90% these days. 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:59.940 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I mean I think Laughlin had particular-- things came 00:01:59.940 --> 00:02:04.650 align:middle line:84% to him like I was saying in sometimes very it would seem 00:02:04.650 --> 00:02:06.840 align:middle line:84% from the outside accidental or by chance ways 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:08.820 align:middle line:84% and Merton was a similar kind of thing. 00:02:08.820 --> 00:02:11.340 align:middle line:84% And I mean we've continued to publish Merton 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:14.640 align:middle line:84% and we're actually bringing out two little volumes of-- 00:02:14.640 --> 00:02:16.410 align:middle line:90% about spirituality. 00:02:16.410 --> 00:02:19.800 align:middle line:84% And so there hasn't really been like a specific choice 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:21.900 align:middle line:90% not to do those kinds of books. 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:24.450 align:middle line:84% Also I don't think Laughlin ever specifically-- 00:02:24.450 --> 00:02:30.480 align:middle line:84% I mean there was certain things about India and poetry, 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:34.080 align:middle line:84% but we still do bring out those kinds of books as well about-- 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:43.950 align:middle line:84% but maybe not overtly so if that makes sense. 00:02:43.950 --> 00:02:46.200 align:middle line:84% But as far as the first part of your question 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:49.000 align:middle line:84% was about a model of publishing house. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.250 align:middle line:90% 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:55.110 align:middle line:84% Like I said, it's a balancing act, 00:02:55.110 --> 00:02:58.380 align:middle line:84% but we are fortunate in the sense 00:02:58.380 --> 00:03:01.830 align:middle line:84% that we've had this time over the years 00:03:01.830 --> 00:03:04.350 align:middle line:84% to build this backlist and that's 00:03:04.350 --> 00:03:09.390 align:middle line:84% a lot of what we rely on besides more and more on our front list 00:03:09.390 --> 00:03:10.710 align:middle line:90% too. 00:03:10.710 --> 00:03:16.140 align:middle line:84% But publishers now it would be really hard to do that, 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:19.950 align:middle line:84% to start off like that as an independent profit press. 00:03:19.950 --> 00:03:21.900 align:middle line:84% Usually the model now is a non-profit press 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:24.210 align:middle line:90% which is great. 00:03:24.210 --> 00:03:28.770 align:middle line:84% But it involves a whole other side of fundraising 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:31.800 align:middle line:84% and creative development and things like that. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.850 align:middle line:84% That's different but there's definitely some great presses 00:03:35.850 --> 00:03:38.540 align:middle line:90% now who are doing that. 00:03:38.540 --> 00:03:43.485 align:middle line:84% And then there's the University Press model which is, well, 00:03:43.485 --> 00:03:45.610 align:middle line:84% in the past supposed to be funded by the University 00:03:45.610 --> 00:03:48.790 align:middle line:84% but I think that's been changing a lot. 00:03:48.790 --> 00:03:50.740 align:middle line:90% Yes, Wendy. 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:54.070 align:middle line:84% This question actually relates to Fenton's question 00:03:54.070 --> 00:03:57.190 align:middle line:90% about new directions as a model. 00:03:57.190 --> 00:04:00.700 align:middle line:84% A lot is being talked about digital publishing 00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:05.020 align:middle line:84% as a necessity, and I agree with Fenton's statement 00:04:05.020 --> 00:04:07.450 align:middle line:90% about your press as a model. 00:04:07.450 --> 00:04:09.760 align:middle line:84% And I'm curious, does new direction 00:04:09.760 --> 00:04:13.240 align:middle line:84% see any things in digital publishing that 00:04:13.240 --> 00:04:16.089 align:middle line:84% might be innovative or interesting 00:04:16.089 --> 00:04:22.697 align:middle line:84% or beyond the realm of necessity sort of exciting possibilities? 00:04:22.697 --> 00:04:24.280 align:middle line:84% I think we're in the middle of dealing 00:04:24.280 --> 00:04:28.340 align:middle line:84% with the necessity where you have to-- as a publisher, 00:04:28.340 --> 00:04:32.050 align:middle line:84% you have to give readers the option now of an e-book 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:33.280 align:middle line:90% on the various readers. 00:04:33.280 --> 00:04:37.750 align:middle line:84% We're always going to be publishing book-- books as we 00:04:37.750 --> 00:04:42.430 align:middle line:84% always have and even have made a point of publishing books 00:04:42.430 --> 00:04:45.940 align:middle line:84% that you really can't see on an e-reader. 00:04:45.940 --> 00:04:47.080 align:middle line:90% Knox is one example. 00:04:47.080 --> 00:04:49.910 align:middle line:90% 00:04:49.910 --> 00:04:52.600 align:middle line:84% This edition of Robert Walser's Microscripts, 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:57.820 align:middle line:84% which is these little notes he wrote on scraps of paper 00:04:57.820 --> 00:04:58.480 align:middle line:90% and translated. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.610 align:middle line:84% And the way we did it you couldn't really 00:05:00.610 --> 00:05:04.540 align:middle line:90% do that on an e-reader. 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:09.370 align:middle line:84% I think now we have been trying to get a lot of our books 00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:11.620 align:middle line:90% onto that format. 00:05:11.620 --> 00:05:12.460 align:middle line:90% Poetry is different. 00:05:12.460 --> 00:05:15.070 align:middle line:84% Poetry it's still a little tricky 00:05:15.070 --> 00:05:16.390 align:middle line:90% to do line breaks and things. 00:05:16.390 --> 00:05:18.370 align:middle line:84% I mean, it's yes and no and that-- 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:22.330 align:middle line:84% but we haven't quite embarked on the poetry side of that yet. 00:05:22.330 --> 00:05:27.040 align:middle line:84% It's mostly for the nonfiction and fiction for e-books. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:29.440 align:middle line:84% There's a lot of interesting stuff happening 00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:36.190 align:middle line:84% I think literature wise through the internet, but it takes-- 00:05:36.190 --> 00:05:39.520 align:middle line:84% it's a different kinds of forms, whether it's a journals 00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:42.490 align:middle line:84% or there's this organization called Triple Canopy 00:05:42.490 --> 00:05:48.390 align:middle line:84% and they do they do an interesting way of presenting 00:05:48.390 --> 00:05:51.360 align:middle line:84% a little chap book form within the realm 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.190 align:middle line:90% of this visual presentation. 00:05:53.190 --> 00:06:01.605 align:middle line:84% But we haven't quite gotten to that as a publishing house. 00:06:01.605 --> 00:06:02.730 align:middle line:90% I really enjoyed your talk. 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:03.520 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:06:03.520 --> 00:06:05.430 align:middle line:84% I have a question about the poetry list 00:06:05.430 --> 00:06:08.580 align:middle line:84% which it seems like now that books 00:06:08.580 --> 00:06:13.710 align:middle line:84% by Nathaniel Mackey and Susan Howe and Michael Palmer coming 00:06:13.710 --> 00:06:15.600 align:middle line:90% out on new directions. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:19.770 align:middle line:84% It's fascinating that though all those poets broke 00:06:19.770 --> 00:06:22.800 align:middle line:84% through on little tiny, tiny presses almost like presses 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:25.620 align:middle line:84% that new directions used to be and now they're 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:29.220 align:middle line:84% seen as more much more established 00:06:29.220 --> 00:06:32.610 align:middle line:84% poets now maybe as a result of being on New Directions. 00:06:32.610 --> 00:06:34.830 align:middle line:84% It's almost like the reverse has happened 00:06:34.830 --> 00:06:38.010 align:middle line:84% in terms of finding the avant Garde 00:06:38.010 --> 00:06:40.245 align:middle line:84% and then really almost establishing them. 00:06:40.245 --> 00:06:42.370 align:middle line:84% Anne Carson is definitely a counter example of that 00:06:42.370 --> 00:06:46.110 align:middle line:84% because I think for maybe first or second book came out 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:46.860 align:middle line:90% on New Directions. 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:51.320 align:middle line:84% But what's your sense of at least with the American poetry 00:06:51.320 --> 00:06:55.912 align:middle line:84% list and how that's changed maybe just in the time 00:06:55.912 --> 00:06:56.870 align:middle line:90% that you've been there? 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:58.118 align:middle line:90% Yeah, sure. 00:06:58.118 --> 00:06:59.660 align:middle line:84% Yeah, it's interesting because I mean 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:04.670 align:middle line:84% I think looking back at what Laughlin was doing, 00:07:04.670 --> 00:07:08.210 align:middle line:84% I mean Pound, Williams, all those people they were actually 00:07:08.210 --> 00:07:11.570 align:middle line:84% already being published elsewhere or had been 00:07:11.570 --> 00:07:14.030 align:middle line:84% or things went out of print and then 00:07:14.030 --> 00:07:16.050 align:middle line:90% Lachlan came in and picked up. 00:07:16.050 --> 00:07:21.170 align:middle line:84% He definitely wasn't publishing their first books. 00:07:21.170 --> 00:07:25.370 align:middle line:84% Later on with some of the more international people, 00:07:25.370 --> 00:07:28.820 align:middle line:84% I think Borges and Neruda and some of those, 00:07:28.820 --> 00:07:31.430 align:middle line:84% it was a different story with the international stuff. 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:34.370 align:middle line:90% But I don't know. 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:37.970 align:middle line:84% It's funny because I came really relatively late 00:07:37.970 --> 00:07:41.870 align:middle line:84% in the game in New Directions, but also a kind of continuing 00:07:41.870 --> 00:07:46.070 align:middle line:84% beginning for what you need to change as a publishing house. 00:07:46.070 --> 00:07:56.410 align:middle line:84% And I think even since when I started there until now there's 00:07:56.410 --> 00:07:59.020 align:middle line:84% always been this sense of ND is more 00:07:59.020 --> 00:08:05.260 align:middle line:84% of a place where poets who have already published a couple two 00:08:05.260 --> 00:08:10.000 align:middle line:84% or three books or chap books or something, especially now 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.960 align:middle line:84% the publishing scene is so different than it was. 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:16.180 align:middle line:84% There's so many great small presses 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:18.280 align:middle line:90% and other resources out there. 00:08:18.280 --> 00:08:22.240 align:middle line:84% And again truthfully it is also part of the balancing act 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.270 align:middle line:90% too of trying to do it. 00:08:25.270 --> 00:08:28.420 align:middle line:84% And also wanting to stay committed 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:33.070 align:middle line:84% to international poets which is again 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:35.000 align:middle line:84% we're doing 30 to 35 books a year, 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.140 align:middle line:84% including the fiction list and a lot of the international poets 00:08:38.140 --> 00:08:42.429 align:middle line:84% actually are still their first books here, 00:08:42.429 --> 00:08:43.480 align:middle line:90% but in their country-- 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:48.140 align:middle line:84% And it's really a hard sell for the most part, 00:08:48.140 --> 00:08:49.960 align:middle line:90% even if we love the book. 00:08:49.960 --> 00:08:52.990 align:middle line:84% So I don't know if that answers your question. 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:59.770 align:middle line:84% But we are starting a little pamphlet series 00:08:59.770 --> 00:09:03.130 align:middle line:90% that's modeled after a poet-- 00:09:03.130 --> 00:09:04.270 align:middle line:90% the poets of the year. 00:09:04.270 --> 00:09:07.480 align:middle line:84% It was called that Laughlin did of these little chap books 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:08.830 align:middle line:90% and we're-- 00:09:08.830 --> 00:09:12.430 align:middle line:84% they'll probably be about 40 to 48 pages and as a way of trying 00:09:12.430 --> 00:09:15.790 align:middle line:84% to do more poetry and more affordable ways 00:09:15.790 --> 00:09:19.270 align:middle line:84% and without having to commit to a full book which 00:09:19.270 --> 00:09:22.400 align:middle line:90% is it's hard to do. 00:09:22.400 --> 00:09:25.690 align:middle line:84% We still do, but there's different-- 00:09:25.690 --> 00:09:29.140 align:middle line:84% we have the poets we've been publishing all along 00:09:29.140 --> 00:09:34.510 align:middle line:84% and then we have the continuing reinventing of the backlist. 00:09:34.510 --> 00:09:39.490 align:middle line:84% Like there's an Ezra Pound, new poems, and new selected poems 00:09:39.490 --> 00:09:43.390 align:middle line:84% and translations so with notes you know and so that 00:09:43.390 --> 00:09:44.870 align:middle line:90% with the new stuff. 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:47.390 align:middle line:84% So there's different things that are going on. 00:09:47.390 --> 00:09:51.190 align:middle line:90% 00:09:51.190 --> 00:09:52.910 align:middle line:90% Anyone else? 00:09:52.910 --> 00:09:53.660 align:middle line:90% Sure. 00:09:53.660 --> 00:09:57.308 align:middle line:84% This is maybe a bit more personal, a little less 00:09:57.308 --> 00:09:58.100 align:middle line:90% about the business. 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:01.580 align:middle line:84% But I'm interested in I can think of the obvious ways 00:10:01.580 --> 00:10:03.590 align:middle line:84% that this work might have influenced 00:10:03.590 --> 00:10:07.040 align:middle line:84% or this editorial position might have influenced your work. 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:10.610 align:middle line:84% But could you talk about some specific and particular ways 00:10:10.610 --> 00:10:12.845 align:middle line:84% that your job influenced your poetry? 00:10:12.845 --> 00:10:16.463 align:middle line:90% 00:10:16.463 --> 00:10:17.880 align:middle line:84% I think that's hard for me to say. 00:10:17.880 --> 00:10:20.270 align:middle line:90% Yes, it's hard. 00:10:20.270 --> 00:10:23.690 align:middle line:84% Like I said, I think the skills that you 00:10:23.690 --> 00:10:28.620 align:middle line:84% learn in editing, slowing down and things it's always-- 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:32.070 align:middle line:84% that always helps with your writing and translating. 00:10:32.070 --> 00:10:33.720 align:middle line:84% But I think one of the things really 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.930 align:middle line:90% is as an editor you're really-- 00:10:37.930 --> 00:10:39.600 align:middle line:84% your job is reading all of these things 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.060 align:middle line:84% and you're seeing so many different things and how 00:10:42.060 --> 00:10:47.010 align:middle line:84% people put things together as a book and stuff. 00:10:47.010 --> 00:10:50.320 align:middle line:90% And so inevitably your-- 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.235 align:middle line:84% it comes into the unconscious or whatever. 00:10:53.235 --> 00:10:54.860 align:middle line:84% And so you're just seeing these things. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:01.060 align:middle line:84% So I think that's one positive thing that happens with that. 00:11:01.060 --> 00:11:03.700 align:middle line:90% Does that answer? 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:05.980 align:middle line:84% Was there someone else -- here I can bring you-- 00:11:05.980 --> 00:11:08.740 align:middle line:90% 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:12.160 align:middle line:84% I have a question about your translating work or just 00:11:12.160 --> 00:11:13.090 align:middle line:90% getting. 00:11:13.090 --> 00:11:20.478 align:middle line:84% How would you encourage a young writer who's still trying to-- 00:11:20.478 --> 00:11:21.770 align:middle line:90% still exploring their own work? 00:11:21.770 --> 00:11:23.930 align:middle line:84% How would you encourage a young writer 00:11:23.930 --> 00:11:29.720 align:middle line:84% to also spend time translating or would you encourage 00:11:29.720 --> 00:11:31.610 align:middle line:90% a young writer to do that? 00:11:31.610 --> 00:11:35.990 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I think translation is one of the most amazing things you 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:36.800 align:middle line:90% can do to-- 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:39.820 align:middle line:90% 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:42.250 align:middle line:84% that helps your writing in ways because there's already 00:11:42.250 --> 00:11:45.940 align:middle line:84% this distance and there's already this template 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:47.560 align:middle line:90% you're working with. 00:11:47.560 --> 00:11:51.490 align:middle line:84% And the way I got started was really just bilingual books 00:11:51.490 --> 00:11:55.210 align:middle line:84% of poets that I loved and then just first kind of just thing 00:11:55.210 --> 00:11:56.380 align:middle line:90% and that's-- 00:11:56.380 --> 00:11:59.510 align:middle line:90% I think it's a fun way. 00:11:59.510 --> 00:12:03.280 align:middle line:84% It's also something I found was very supportive of is trying 00:12:03.280 --> 00:12:06.880 align:middle line:84% to-- you don't have to be perfect with the language, 00:12:06.880 --> 00:12:09.730 align:middle line:84% but being able to go back read enough 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:13.060 align:middle line:84% for the little of the Spanish, sit there with a dictionary, 00:12:13.060 --> 00:12:15.500 align:middle line:84% look at it and try and understand what's going on 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:17.733 align:middle line:84% and listen to the sounds, I think that's great. 00:12:17.733 --> 00:12:19.900 align:middle line:84% And you're seeing something of the original language 00:12:19.900 --> 00:12:21.580 align:middle line:90% and you're just-- 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:25.090 align:middle line:84% the next step is just messing around with-- 00:12:25.090 --> 00:12:27.970 align:middle line:84% it's almost-- it could almost be mathematical in the beginning. 00:12:27.970 --> 00:12:31.250 align:middle line:84% Other people here translate too and that's-- 00:12:31.250 --> 00:12:33.760 align:middle line:84% I think it's different with prose and poetry. 00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:36.295 align:middle line:84% But I think it's a great thing to do. 00:12:36.295 --> 00:12:39.250 align:middle line:90% 00:12:39.250 --> 00:12:42.700 align:middle line:84% Just a follow on the point of translation. 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:47.290 align:middle line:84% I'm interested in also your own work as a translator. 00:12:47.290 --> 00:12:49.400 align:middle line:84% You're talking about when you began, 00:12:49.400 --> 00:12:54.670 align:middle line:84% which again is very simple and almost mechanical. 00:12:54.670 --> 00:12:59.470 align:middle line:84% And now you're doing this very high profile work with Liu-- 00:12:59.470 --> 00:13:08.225 align:middle line:84% Xiaobo, and also along the way you did Su Dongpo which again-- 00:13:08.225 --> 00:13:10.600 align:middle line:84% and again you're doing this works with different presses. 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:14.380 align:middle line:84% Of course, we're talking about New Directions, but gray-- 00:13:14.380 --> 00:13:17.305 align:middle line:90% Gray Wolf with the Liu Xiaobo. 00:13:17.305 --> 00:13:19.990 align:middle line:90% 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:24.370 align:middle line:84% So especially with the Su Dongpo which was with-- which 00:13:24.370 --> 00:13:26.170 align:middle line:84% was with Ugly Duckling which is just 00:13:26.170 --> 00:13:29.548 align:middle line:90% a small publisher of books. 00:13:29.548 --> 00:13:30.715 align:middle line:90% It's just a little chapbook. 00:13:30.715 --> 00:13:33.480 align:middle line:90% 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.350 align:middle line:84% How has that been to go from doing this work 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:39.960 align:middle line:84% translating classical poetry that you probably can't even 00:13:39.960 --> 00:13:44.400 align:middle line:84% expect much of an audience for, I mean even with the print run, 00:13:44.400 --> 00:13:50.880 align:middle line:84% and now doing very high profile work now with Liu Xiaobo 00:13:50.880 --> 00:13:54.940 align:middle line:84% that you're getting so much press for? 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:59.428 align:middle line:84% Just in a few years, what has that been like? 00:13:59.428 --> 00:13:59.970 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:05.850 align:middle line:90% 00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:07.290 align:middle line:90% In grad school, I was taking-- 00:14:07.290 --> 00:14:10.650 align:middle line:84% I took a translation class and that really 00:14:10.650 --> 00:14:13.050 align:middle line:90% got me motivated to do more. 00:14:13.050 --> 00:14:17.310 align:middle line:84% Before that again, I was always playing around 00:14:17.310 --> 00:14:20.650 align:middle line:84% with bilingual poems and things like that. 00:14:20.650 --> 00:14:26.280 align:middle line:84% And then I also had translated a collection 00:14:26.280 --> 00:14:31.170 align:middle line:84% of classical Chinese poetry for myself and I actually 00:14:31.170 --> 00:14:32.310 align:middle line:90% brought it out myself. 00:14:32.310 --> 00:14:40.710 align:middle line:84% It was in four volumes, little volumes divided into seasons. 00:14:40.710 --> 00:14:43.260 align:middle line:90% And that was just an exercise. 00:14:43.260 --> 00:14:47.760 align:middle line:84% So I guess I hopefully knew more of what I was doing before I 00:14:47.760 --> 00:14:49.267 align:middle line:90% was thrown into other stuff. 00:14:49.267 --> 00:14:50.100 align:middle line:90% But I don't really-- 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:55.230 align:middle line:84% I don't know Liu Xiaobo that really 00:14:55.230 --> 00:14:57.750 align:middle line:84% fell into my lap, that whole project. 00:14:57.750 --> 00:15:02.030 align:middle line:84% I could talk about that a little bit some other time. 00:15:02.030 --> 00:15:06.740 align:middle line:90% 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:09.560 align:middle line:84% That question didn't really come into mind 00:15:09.560 --> 00:15:13.070 align:middle line:84% because Penn organization basically 00:15:13.070 --> 00:15:15.302 align:middle line:84% just sent me some poems and said, 00:15:15.302 --> 00:15:17.010 align:middle line:84% can you translate these for the magazine? 00:15:17.010 --> 00:15:19.573 align:middle line:84% And I said, OK, I'll translate a few of them. 00:15:19.573 --> 00:15:20.990 align:middle line:84% And then one thing led to another. 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:26.930 align:middle line:90% 00:15:26.930 --> 00:15:28.950 align:middle line:84% It really happened really fast like that. 00:15:28.950 --> 00:15:31.940 align:middle line:90% 00:15:31.940 --> 00:15:37.650 align:middle line:84% I had been doing it for a while, so hopefully it's 00:15:37.650 --> 00:15:39.840 align:middle line:90% not going to be bad. 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:42.780 align:middle line:90% You'll decide. 00:15:42.780 --> 00:15:45.840 align:middle line:90% Does that make sense? 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.420 align:middle line:84% I don't know what else to say about. 00:15:48.420 --> 00:15:50.550 align:middle line:84% The Ugly Duckling, they're a great press. 00:15:50.550 --> 00:15:55.590 align:middle line:84% They brought out the Su Shi that Su Dongpo book-- 00:15:55.590 --> 00:15:57.293 align:middle line:90% chapbook-- They do. 00:15:57.293 --> 00:15:59.460 align:middle line:84% I don't know if people are familiar with this press, 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:04.260 align:middle line:84% but it's out in Brooklyn and they do a mix of finding scraps 00:16:04.260 --> 00:16:06.900 align:middle line:84% of materials and then letterpress, 00:16:06.900 --> 00:16:10.712 align:middle line:84% but also not letterpress and it's-- and they have 00:16:10.712 --> 00:16:11.670 align:middle line:90% a subscription service. 00:16:11.670 --> 00:16:13.295 align:middle line:84% You could see the books in the library. 00:16:13.295 --> 00:16:18.420 align:middle line:84% And it's just I had known some of those people 00:16:18.420 --> 00:16:21.480 align:middle line:84% and they were interested in that set of translations, 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:23.340 align:middle line:90% and then it was just-- 00:16:23.340 --> 00:16:27.720 align:middle line:84% they're not-- you're not working on like on a deadline schedule 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:28.230 align:middle line:90% with-- 00:16:28.230 --> 00:16:30.688 align:middle line:84% it's great because then you're just kind of like, oh, maybe 00:16:30.688 --> 00:16:31.460 align:middle line:90% this will work. 00:16:31.460 --> 00:16:33.660 align:middle line:84% And they're not getting paid anything. 00:16:33.660 --> 00:16:37.230 align:middle line:84% They're all devoted to the books except for one person now 00:16:37.230 --> 00:16:39.900 align:middle line:90% who's the managing editor. 00:16:39.900 --> 00:16:43.110 align:middle line:84% And so it's so free to do what you're doing. 00:16:43.110 --> 00:16:47.220 align:middle line:84% They get grant money and it goes through like three or four 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:52.200 align:middle line:84% different ideas of what it could actually look like as a book. 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:54.600 align:middle line:84% They're just amazing little operation there 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.970 align:middle line:84% that I think has steadily been getting 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:01.390 align:middle line:84% a lot more attention for what they do with books and poetry 00:17:01.390 --> 00:17:01.890 align:middle line:90% anyways. 00:17:01.890 --> 00:17:04.589 align:middle line:90% 00:17:04.589 --> 00:17:05.260 align:middle line:90% Anything else? 00:17:05.260 --> 00:17:08.339 align:middle line:90% 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.950 align:middle line:90% One more. 00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:15.240 align:middle line:84% So I was just thinking about here we are in Tucson 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.780 align:middle line:84% and New Directions is in New York and Ugly Duckling 00:17:18.780 --> 00:17:22.740 align:middle line:84% and there are so many amazing presses there. 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:26.730 align:middle line:84% Tucson is very lucky to have its own amazing presses, 00:17:26.730 --> 00:17:31.260 align:middle line:84% but I was curious so what advice might you have 00:17:31.260 --> 00:17:34.350 align:middle line:84% or what thoughts might you have about, say, 00:17:34.350 --> 00:17:38.340 align:middle line:84% poetry in Tucson in a smaller city as opposed 00:17:38.340 --> 00:17:40.140 align:middle line:90% to poetry in a big city? 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:43.080 align:middle line:90% 00:17:43.080 --> 00:17:46.440 align:middle line:84% What for folks here who might be MFA students who 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:49.770 align:middle line:84% might be thinking about, oh, do I stay in Tucson? 00:17:49.770 --> 00:17:50.490 align:middle line:90% Do I move? 00:17:50.490 --> 00:17:51.720 align:middle line:90% I have to move to New York? 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:54.450 align:middle line:90% What do I do? 00:17:54.450 --> 00:17:56.760 align:middle line:90% Any thoughts or advice for them? 00:17:56.760 --> 00:17:58.290 align:middle line:90% Yeah, well, I don't think-- 00:17:58.290 --> 00:18:03.090 align:middle line:84% I think the community of writers can come from wherever really. 00:18:03.090 --> 00:18:07.410 align:middle line:84% Obviously I'm in New York for the sheer number of readings 00:18:07.410 --> 00:18:10.710 align:middle line:90% per day you have or per week. 00:18:10.710 --> 00:18:13.290 align:middle line:84% It is incredible that that's there 00:18:13.290 --> 00:18:17.340 align:middle line:84% and you have various poetry foundations there 00:18:17.340 --> 00:18:21.220 align:middle line:84% in the city all contributing to that schedule of calendar 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:21.720 align:middle line:90% of events. 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:24.030 align:middle line:84% But as far as like small press stuff, 00:18:24.030 --> 00:18:27.300 align:middle line:84% the history of small presses and these things in the US 00:18:27.300 --> 00:18:30.660 align:middle line:90% they're all over the place. 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:36.420 align:middle line:84% And here it's really seems like you have the space and rent 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:38.280 align:middle line:90% is not cheap in New York. 00:18:38.280 --> 00:18:43.050 align:middle line:84% So a lot of people even have been moving away too. 00:18:43.050 --> 00:18:45.210 align:middle line:84% And I'm not saying like it's either here or there. 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:50.850 align:middle line:84% I think it really comes out of a local situation 00:18:50.850 --> 00:18:53.537 align:middle line:84% and the motivation and energy that people have 00:18:53.537 --> 00:18:55.620 align:middle line:84% and it really does seem like hearing more and more 00:18:55.620 --> 00:18:57.270 align:middle line:90% about what's going on here. 00:18:57.270 --> 00:19:00.700 align:middle line:84% It's an amazing community of things that are happening. 00:19:00.700 --> 00:19:04.920 align:middle line:84% I think Minneapolis too has this kind of stuff happening 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:09.230 align:middle line:84% and I was out in Marfa last year and there's 00:19:09.230 --> 00:19:10.230 align:middle line:90% little things happening. 00:19:10.230 --> 00:19:19.500 align:middle line:84% So I think poets, artists they go where they make things 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:21.030 align:middle line:90% happen within their own way. 00:19:21.030 --> 00:19:25.830 align:middle line:90% 00:19:25.830 --> 00:19:28.668 align:middle line:84% Of course, you can't be New York for sure, again for sure. 00:19:28.668 --> 00:19:30.210 align:middle line:84% But I'm just saying if you're talking 00:19:30.210 --> 00:19:34.840 align:middle line:84% about like do I have to be there to do this kind of work? 00:19:34.840 --> 00:19:36.960 align:middle line:90% But no, definitely not. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:43.630 align:middle line:84% I would say there's even more means elsewhere at this point. 00:19:43.630 --> 00:19:44.130 align:middle line:90% Great. 00:19:44.130 --> 00:19:46.530 align:middle line:84% Well, I should also thank the East Asian department 00:19:46.530 --> 00:19:50.050 align:middle line:84% too that were co-sponsoring this as well. 00:19:50.050 --> 00:19:50.760 align:middle line:90% So thank you. 00:19:50.760 --> 00:20:02.530 align:middle line:90% 00:20:02.530 --> 00:20:05.530 align:middle line:84% Thank you very much, Jeffrey Thank you so much for coming, 00:20:05.530 --> 00:20:07.720 align:middle line:90% speaking with us tonight. 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:09.850 align:middle line:84% Everyone come back tomorrow to hear 00:20:09.850 --> 00:20:12.970 align:middle line:84% Jeffrey read his own poetry and Katherine Larson, 00:20:12.970 --> 00:20:15.090 align:middle line:90% and thank you for coming. 00:20:15.090 --> 00:20:22.000 align:middle line:90%