Asymptote is a global journal dedicated to literary translation, created by a team of writers and translators from over 25 different countries. In our new podcast, we explore the most fascinating, eclectic and unsung stories in international literature. Each episode travels far and wide to bring you interviews, readings and mini-documentaries from all over the literary world.
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Samuel Bollier
Ever think of running away from mundane existence to join the circus? Imagine if, one day, after watching the circus, the circus director comes over to recruit you for an unusual role in the spectacle and pageantry you have just witnessed. This is what happens in Jurj Salem’s “ (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/at-the-circus-jurj-salem/)At the Circus” (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/at-the-circus-jurj-salem/) from our Winter 2025 issue (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/jan-2025), a witty short story filled with dry humor that gently questions what we hold to be reality. Join Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak for a fascinating conversation with its translator Samuel Bollier for an entrypoint into Salem’s surreal fictional universe, as well as the broader challenges of translating Arabic fiction into English.
29 Aug 2024
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Jamal Saeed
Join us today for a heartfelt conversation with exiled Syrian author Jamal Saeed, author of the 2022 autobiography My Road from Damascus (ECW Press, Toronto). Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak recently sat down with Saeed, now based in Canada, to discuss his devastating short story (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/my-grandmother-fatimas-cough-jamal-saeed/), a highlight of our recent Summer 2024 edition (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/jul-2024). Written amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza and translated into English by longtime collaborator Catherine Cobham, My Mother Fatima’s Cough (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/my-grandmother-fatimas-cough-jamal-saeed/) plumbs the depth of grief and loss that follow generations of a family displaced multiple times over. The discussion is accompanied by a reading of an excerpt in English. Listen to the podcast episode now.
5 Jul 2024
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Dan Beachy-Quick
To American poet and translator Dan Beachy-Quick, translations of Greek poets from the lyric and philosophical traditions are an opportunity to “use the eye to break apart the mind and remind us that we have a mouth to sing another’s song.” In this new Asymptote podcast episode, Beachy-Quick and Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak discuss the ongoing resonance of these songs in […]
30 May 2024
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Matthew Landrum on Faroese Writer Anna Malan Jógvansdóttir
In today’s thrilling conversation with author and translator Matthew Landrum, Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak explores the compelling poetry of Anna Malan Jógvansdóttir and the renaissance of Faroese literature as spotlighted in Asymptote’s Spring issue. Nine Faroese authors from multiple generations are represented in our Special Feature organized in partnership with FarLit. The showcase, which readers can access here, affords a rare glimpse […]
5 Apr 2024
Asymptote Podcast: Nabokov and the Butterflies
The third Asymptote Podcast episode for 2024 explores a chapter in the life of Vladimir Nabokov during his time in the United States (where he became a citizen in 1945). With his spouse, Vera, and son, Dimitri, he travelled across the America West at the dawn of the mid-nineteenth century. It’s estimated that Nabokov chalked […]
8 Mar 2024
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Kristin Vego
In the second podcast episode centering on contributors to Asymptote’s landmark 50th issue, Danish-Norwegian author Kristin Vego joins Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak in conversation. Her story, “All Things Lovely,” as translated by Jennifer Russell, represents her debut in the English language. Vego’s story also arrives at a moment when Norwegian literature is receiving global attention with last […]
1 Feb 2024
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with David Unger
Esteemed translator David Unger joins our new Podcast Editor Vincent Hostak for a conversation with readings of the poetry of Jaime Barrios Carillo. Born in Guatemala City in 1954 and living in Stockholm since 1981, Carrillo is known principally as a writer and columnist. His Two Poems from the Spanish Language volume Ángeles sin dios (Angels Without […]
7 Oct 2021
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Bethlehem Attfield
It’s Steve Lehman’s final episode as our podcast editor, and we’re going out with a bang: a timely interview with the Ethiopian writer and translator Bethlehem Attfield. In this episode, Bethlehem talks with Steve about co-translating Mulugeta Alebachew’s short story “Heaven Without Prickly Pears” for our Summer 2021 issue. She also discusses the lack of representation of […]
29 Jul 2021
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Kári Tulinius
Summer has arrived (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), and today we’re heading to Iceland! In this episode, Icelandic writer Kári Tulinius chats with podcast editor Steve Lehman about growing up in Iceland, the advantages of a tight-knit literary community, and how writing poetry is part of what it means to be human. Then, Kári reads one of his poems published […]
25 Mar 2021
Asymptote Podcast: In Conversation with Padma Viswanathan
Today on the show, the award-winning author and translator Padma Viswanathan joins podcast editor Steve Lehman to talk about her love for Brazilian literature, the connection between writing and translating, and how translation helps her form an even closer relationship to Portuguese. Afterwards, stick around to hear an excerpt from the short story “The Woman […]
26 Feb 2021
Asymptote Podcast: An interview with Anton Hur followed by a reading by Yilin Wang
Join podcast editor Steve Lehman for a conversation with current contributor Anton Hur on his journey as a literary translator and his “Fictional Notes toward an Essay on Translation” that was published under the aegis of our “Brave New World Literature Feature” spotlighting the unique relationship between authors and their translators. Stay until the end to hear writer, editor, […]
18 Dec 2020
Asymptote Podcast: Hiromi Itō on “Living Trees and Dying Trees”
In this episode, podcast editor Steve Lehman chats with acclaimed poet, essayist, and novelist Hiromi Itō about her development as a feminist writer, the importance of the environment in her life, and the moving experience of reading her own work translated into another language. Plus, hear an excerpt from Itō’s essay “Living Trees and Dying […]
29 Oct 2020
Asymptote Podcast: Michele Hutchison on Curating Our Dutch Literature Special Feature
In tandem with the release of our milestone 40th issue, new podcast host Steve Lehman speaks with the Booker International Prize-winning translator Michele Hutchison about her work on Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening, curating this issue’s Special Feature on Dutch literature, and more. Plus, a poetry reading by contributor Mustafa Stitou in the original Dutch, followed by […]
21 Jun 2019
Asymptote Podcast: That Which is Found and Gained through Translation
Podcast Editor Layla Benitez-James reports back from the Unamuno Poetry Festival in Madrid with an excerpt from a panel she moderated, titled “TransAtlantic: Translation as Bridge and Compulsion.” She also explores the dynamic lecture on translation given by Jorge Vessel, poet and translator of Desperate Literature: A Bilingual Anthology—a book highlighting, rather than what is lost, that which is found and gained through the art of […]
29 Mar 2019
Asymptote Podcast: Infinite Text
During Madrid’s Year of Lorca, which commemorates the centenary of the poet’s arrival to the city, podcast editor Layla Benitez-James speaks with Rebecca Seiferle, whose brilliant essay on Lorca translations appears in Into English. A multi-award winning poet and noted translator of César Vallejo and other Spanish language poets, Seiferle is deeply passionate about teaching and […]
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