FIL Program 2024 Program Search
FIL Literature
Hispanic literature in the Nordic countries
Hispanic literature in the Nordic countries
In the course of the twentieth century, Latin American poetry seems to have annulled the spell of its European invisibility (in countries such as England, France or Germany). Thanks to different factors, the introduction of the same poetry in the Nordic countries has traveled divergent paths. The intellectual links between Sweden and Mexico have facilitated some exchange since the mid-twentieth century, while in remote Finland the process has been more sporadic. The situation is commensurate, but not identical, when it comes to the reverse phenomenon: the reception of Swedish and Finnish poetry in Latin America.
The panelists will discuss their experience, linking both areas. Zetterlund and Rico Carrillo will ponder the intentions and consequences of translating a particular author, at a certain social and aesthetic juncture, between such distant cultural regions. For example, they will address the blistering case of Trilce by Vallejo, translated into Finnish in 2009 by Einari Aaltonen; and also the translations that Zetterlund has made of various Swedish speaking poets to Spanish (like Jenny Tunnedal, Iman Mohammed, Göran Sonnevi, among others). Based on these concrete examples, the participants will tackle more general questions: What cultural structures make it difficult to translate between Swedish and Spanish? What limits the translation of a romance language poem into a Germanic language? And into a non-Indo-European language, such as Finnish? What unexpected affinities are found in such a dialogue? What is the role of the poet, the translator and the editor, when projecting a literary work to such a distant region?
Participants: Petronella Zetterlund, José Luis Rico
Moderator: Roxana Crisólogo
Petronella Zetterlund
(Sweden, 1974). She is a teacher of Hispanic literature, translator, editor, producer and cultural manager. She is co-founder and manager of Nordic Exchange in Literature, a Nordic multilingual literature project, and is co-founder, deputy director and general coordinator of NOX Escuela de Escritura Creativa, where she also teaches literary translation laboratories. Among her translations of Swedish literature, there are Ma by Ida Börjel (Filodecaballos, 2019), Álbum by Leif Holmstrand (Palacio de la Fatalidad, 2018), Los otros jardines and En el ramaje by Lennart Sjögren (Esquina Tomada, Medellín, 2023) and Cosas que provocan inquietud by Jenny Tunedal (Palacio de la Fatalidad, 2018), among others, as well as the short story collection Alrededor de las rejas, by Agnes von Krusenstjerna (UNAM/Collection Lic. Vidriera, 2020). Since 2017, she has been living in Mexico City, and works independently under the label Petzetera Texts and Other Texts.
Other activities involving the participant:
Contemporary Nordic poetry
José Luis Rico
(Mexico, 1987)
Poet and translator based in Helsinki. He has published Blanco (2012, La Dïéresis), Duna (2013, FETA), Jabalíes (2015, FETA; Francisco Cervantes Vidal National Prize for Young Poetry) and El aire es esta piedra en la que voy (2015, La Vencedora). In 2021, he curated Arúspice rascacielos, anthology of the work of Mariela Dreyfus, in Lima. He served as editor-in-chief and translator in the anthology of contemporary poetry Saaristo (Sivuvalo, 2023), which brings together 52 Russian-, Spanish-, Finnish- and Arabic-speaking poets. He translated Disco de titanes, by the Finnish poet Sini Silveri (2022) and Fun is a difficult genre, by Juha Rautio (2024) under the label Pitzilein Books. A selection of the poet Tiina Lehikoinen will be published this year by the Chilean publishing house Cinosargo. Rico has been a fellow of the Foundation for Mexican Letters, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), the Graduate School of New York University, the Center for Artistic Promotion of Finland (TAIKE), and the Niilo Helander and Kone foundations of Finland. He frequents the sauna, and complains about the price of mezcal.
Other activities involving the participant:
Contemporary Nordic poetry
Roxana Crisólogo
(Peru/Finland). Poet, translator, cultural manager, with a law background. She has published poetry books: Abajo sobre el cielo (Lima, 1999) whose Finnish translation Alhaalla taivaan yllä was published by Kääntöpiiri (Helsinki, 2001). She also published Animal del camino (Santo Oficio, Lima, 2001; Libros del Cardo, Chile, 2019), Ludy D (Lima, 2006), Trenes (Mexico, 2010). Eisbrecher (Hochroth Verlag, 2017) is the title of the selection of her poetry translated into German. Sotto sopra il cielo is the title of the anthology of her poetry translated into Italian published by Seri Editore. Kauneus La belleza (Intermezzo Tropical, Lima, 2021; Ediciones Nebliplateada, Buenos Aires, 2023) is her penultimate book of poetry, a selection of which was translated into French titled Un jour je m'en irai sans rien emporter (trans. Patricia Houéfa Grange; Éditions KLAC, Bordeaux, 2024). Dónde dejar tanto ruido (Album del Universo Bakterial, Lima, 2023) is her most recent book. Crisólogo lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.
Other activities involving the participant:
Contemporary Nordic poetry
FIL Guadalajara, with the support of Unión de Traductores Literarios de Finlandia
Tuesday, December 03
19:00 to 19:50