Issei Poetry Community Translation Workshop
When
Where
Price
Free, with RSVP.
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About
No Japanese required! Awaken your inner poet as we explore the world of Issei poetry through translation.
This workshop invites the public into the collaborative art of interpreting and translating Japanese-language poetry. Translators Andrew Leong and Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda will guide participants through the fundamentals of literary translation using rare materials from the archives of JACCC's Issei Poetry Project, which preserves Japanese-language literary works written by Japanese immigrants in California during the pre-war period.
Together, we’ll also reflect on the ethics of translation and what it means to work with a community archive. Who are we translating for? What is our relationship to the text? How much historical context is needed when working with a poem written nearly a century ago? And how can we approach publication with care and respect?
Prior experience with literary translation or Japanese-language reading is not required, though it is always welcome.
Things To Know
About the Translators
Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda is a literary translator. Her work includes Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Kappa (New Directions, 2023), Yuko Tsushima’s Wildcat Dome (FSG, 2025), Natsuo Kirino’s Swallows (Knopf, 2025) and Yoko Tawada’s Exophony (New Directions, 2025) among others. Born in Tokyo, raised in Texas, she now lives in New York City.
Andrew Way Leong is assistant professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the literature of Japanese diasporas in the Americas as well as queer and critical theoretical approaches to the study of literary genre, gendered embodiment, and generational time. He is the translator of Lament in the Night (Kaya Press 2012), a collection of two novels by Nagahara Shōson, an author who wrote for a Japanese reading public in Los Angeles during the 1920s. This translation received an Association for Asian American Studies Outstanding Book Award in 2014. Leong is also the 2018 recipient of the Association for Asian American Studies’ Early Career Achievement Award. His recent publications have appeared in The New Whitman Studies, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture, Comparative Literature Studies, Verge: Studies in Global Asias, and Post-45: Contemporaries.
Accessibility
We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. To be respectful of those with allergies and environmental sensitivities, we ask that you please refrain from wearing strong fragrances. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please contact info@jaccc.org.
Plan Your Visit
JACCC is a 7-minute walk from the L.A. Metro Rail's Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, which connects to both the A and E lines via the Regional Connector.
For additional transportation options and parking details, check out Go Little Tokyo's Guide to the area here.