Vancouver Artist-Translators Creating New translation of Marie-Madeleine’s poetry collection, Auf Kypros, that survived Nazi Germany’s ban on queer books
LQ has received notice of an interesting project translating from the late 1800s written by German Jewish queer (believed to be lesbian) poet Marie-Madeleine. The translators are fundraising to help with translation and publishing costs. Please read below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Local Artists Creating New Translation of Historical Sapphic Poetry
VANCOUVER, BC – SEPT 11, 2023 – A team of translators, including local artists, is working to bring a nearly-lost masterwork of historical poetry to modern readers. Marie-Madeleine’s Auf Kypros (“on Cyprus”), first published in German in 1900, will be translated into English in its entirety for the first time, in a project preserving a part of Jewish LGBTQ+ history that the Nazis tried to eradicate.
The team behind the project, composed of American and Canadian writers, artists, and advocates, believes that it’s always been important to preserve queer history, but with increased attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, it has become even more crucial to celebrate and conserve our art and records. “Preserving this precious piece of historical art is vital work,” says Robin Hahn, one of the Vancouver-based translation editors on the project. “It is unabashedly sapphic, romantic, and deeply sexy – and it was almost lost to history due to the Nazis’ book bans.”
Aiden Feltkamp, the New York-based poet spearheading the project, agrees, and highlights the importance – and beauty – of Marie-Madeleine’s exhilarating poetic voice. “Auf Kypros has all the essentials of a sapphic poetry collection: longing, lengthy descriptions of moonlight, swamp witches, a section called ‘From the diary of a half-virgin,’ more longing… What more could you ask for?” they write in the project’s Kickstarter. The book, Aiden notes, “gives me strength when legislation and hate crimes surge against my community. It’s my goal to share that hope by translating and publishing her work for others to enjoy.”
The team’s new edition will not only present all fifty poems in English for the first time, It will also be the first edition to present the German and English side-by-side, and will be the first to come with notes from a queer, nonbinary lead translator. The Kickstarter fund-raiser supporting the project runs now through October 1st 2023, with backers at various levels receiving copies of the new book mailed directly to their door.
Auf Kypros
bit.ly/mm-kickstarterhttp://bit.ly/mm-kickstarter
-30-
Related Stories:
Media contact: Robin Hahn, translation editor