Description
Poetry. Women's Studies. Translated by Kelsi Vanada. THE ELIGIBLE AGE is Kelsi Vanada's translation of poet Berta García Faet's La edad de merecer [La Bella Varsovia, 2015]. The poetry in this outstanding bilingual edition doesn't shy from sentimentality and emotional charge. The poems employ formal and linguistic experimentation in the service of telling about the poet's coming-of-age as woman and writer in a world where roles for both are already defined—the title itself is a feminist critique of the idea that for a woman to be of an age to marry means that she begins to deserve certain things. By blending vocabulary from multiple academic realms with more diaristic revelations about her own emotions and sexuality, via descriptions of her body's changes through puberty and love letters to male and female lovers, García Faet affirms all language as the stuff of poetry. She refuses to obey conventions of syntax and punctuation, and invites readers into refreshingly candid statements like: "i'm ashamed to admit it, but you won't find anyone in the world / who believes in love / with greater intensity greater faith greater fervor / than i." The intimacy of Vanada's and García Faet's artistic collaboration, and the sharing of a voice that now speaks in two languages, breaths vitality into the life of this new work. Parallel Spanish and English text.
"THE ELIGIBLE AGE is one of the most significant books of the last few years, and Berta García Faet has become the most representative voice of her generation."—Unai Velasco, poet
Author Bio
Kelsi Vanada is a poet and a translator from Spanish and Swedish, with MFAs in Poetry and Literary Translation. Her publications include the translation of Sergio Espinosa's INTO MUTENESS (Veliz Books, 2020), a translation of The Eligible Age by Berta García Faet (Song Bridge Press, 2018), and the chapbook of poems Rare Earth (Finishing Line Press, 2020). Kelsi was an ALTA Travel Fellow in 2016, and the recipient of the American-Scandinavian Foundation's 2018 Nadia Christensen Translation prize. She is the Program Manager of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) and lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Author City: TUCSON, AZ USA
Berta García Faet (Valencia, Spain, 1988) is a poet and translator and the recipient of numerous literary prizes. She is the author of six books of poetry: Los salmos fosforitos [Fluorescent Psalms] (La Bella Varsovia, 2017), La edad de merecer [The Eligible Age] (La Bella Varsovia, 2015), Fresa y herida [Strawberry and Wound] (Premio Nacional de Poesía "Antonio González de Lama" 2010; Diputación de León, 2011), Introducción a todo [Introduction to Everything] (IV Premio de Poesía Joven "Pablo García Baena"; La Bella Varsovia, 2011), Night club para alumnas aplicadas [Nightclub for Studious Schoolgirls] (VII Premio Nacional de Poesía "Ciega de Manzanares"; Vitruvio, 2009), and Manojo de abominaciones [A Bunch of Abominations] (XVI Premio de Poesía "Ana de Valle"; Ayuntamiento de Avilés, 2008).
Author City: MADRID SPA