Our first episode—”A Conversation With The Night”—features headliners Víctor Rodríguez Núñez and Katherine M. Hedeen in an expansive conversation with Leah Nieboer and guest-publisher Jace Brittain on process & form, borders & contested subjects, experimentation, dreaming, Latin American poetry, and more. Tune in to hear Victor describe the process of turning a one-dollar notebook into Midnight Minutes, to hear Kate articulate the way intimate knowledge creates critical precision in translation, and to get a casual tour-de-force through revolutionary, avant garde Cuban & Latin American poetry. Because Víctor and Kate have also made it their sacred business to carry antiestablishment, working-class poets into both Spanish and English, we also chat about their most recent work in translation—Honduran poet Rolando Kattan’s Bulletproof Vest from Eulalia Books, whose poetry might teach us how to “turn a verse into a way forward.” “I want a meaning without borders.” - Víctor “One of the things I want to do in translation is make people question that inherent knowledge of their own language.” - Kate “We work with a very specific kind of poetry…that is so experimental and so revolutionary at the same time. Because you can say, you know, ‘Long Live The Revolution.’ But if you say that in a conservative form, it doesn’t work. You have to be revolutionary from the poetry.” - Víctor “These young [Cuban] poets were coming of poetic age at a time where they were being asked to express their commitment to revolutionary ideals, but in a very explicit way. And they rejected this idea that there was only one way to be revolutionary. It doesn’t mean that they weren’t revolutionary.” - Kate Guest Writer(s): Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, Katherine M. Hedeen Guest Publisher: Jace Brittain Host/Producer: Leah Nieboer Producer: Sean Munro Víctor Rodríguez Núñez is a poet, journalist, essayist, translator, editor, and university professor, as well as one of Cuba’s most outstanding and celebrated contemporary writers, with over one hundred editions of his poetry published throughout the world. He has been the recipient of major awards in the Spanish-speaking region, including Spain’s coveted Loewe Prize. His selected poems have been translated into seventeen languages and he has read his poetry in more than fifty countries. Katherine M. Hedeen is an award-winning translator of Latin American poetry; she has translated over thirty books of some of the most respected voices in the region into English. Her work has been a finalist for both the Best Translated Book Award and the National Translation Award, and she is a recipient of the University of Wisconsin’s inaugural Poetry in Translation Prize, two NEA Translation Grants, and a PEN Translates award in the UK. She is an editor of the transnational and translational press, Action Books. Jace Brittain is the author of Sorcererer (Schism 2022) and Cura (Lavender Ink 2027). They live in Louisiana where they teach creative writing and insect literature at Nicholls State University, serve on the board of directors for the New Orleans Poetry Festival, and, with Rachel Zavecz, run the small press Carrion Bloom Books.Leah Nieboer is a writer, educator, podcast host, & literary organizer in New Orleans. She wrote SOFT APOCALYPSE (UGA Press, 2023). #VíctorRodríguezNúñez #KatherineMHedeen #midnightminutes #actionbooks #jacebrittain #carrionbloom #bulletproofvest #eulaliabooks #leahnieboer This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fieldgenerator.substack.com
