Carnaval Fever: Storytelling & Translation

On the eve of the English language publication of her debut novel, Afro-Ecuadorian writer, poet, teacher and DJ, Yuliana Ortiz Ruano will be joined by her literary agent, Elianna Kan ‘10.5, in a broad-ranging conversation about translation. They will discuss the literal process of Yuliana’s experience working with a translator to convey her novel from Spanish into English, as well as translation across media: how does Yuliana approach the work of translating carnaval—its movements and sounds—from the corporeal experience into words? What are the possibilities and limitations of poetry and prose in transmitting the sensorial experience? This encounter will also include listening to some of the key pieces of music that have informed Yuliana’s writing about and sense-memory of carnaval. Finally, we will discuss Yuliana’s work on the UNESCO-funded project Re-escribir, Re-habitar la isla con mujeres afrodescendientes de Isla Trinitaria, and how storytelling and translating memory into words has served as a tool for cultural preservation among the Afro-Diasporic communities with whom Yuliana has collaborated.