Priscilla Gac-Artigas, Ph.D., professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, recently published a translation of “Confieso que escribo / I Confess That I Write,” a bilingual poetry collection by Chilean poet Gustavo Gac-Artigas.
“The work is a co-translation with the award-wining translator Andrea G. Labinger and it inaugurates the Antípodas collection, a joint venture between Ediciones HEBEL, Chile, directed by Luis Cruz-Villalobos and Cross-Cultural Communications, New York, directed by the North American poet Stanley Barkan,” Prof. Gac-Artigas said. “Barkan’s work has been translated into 29 languages, and in its 53 years, his publishing house has released works by 475 authors in 59 different languages, among them Neruda, Allen Ginsberg, Isaac Asimov, Stanley Kunitz, and many others,” she added.
In his foreword, poet Juan Antonio Massone, former vice-president of the Society of Writers of Chile and of the Ateneo de Santiago, full member of the Chilean Academy of Language and corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy, RAE, writes, “As we read the poems of ‘Confieso que escribo / I Confess That I Write,’ the biographical background becomes apparent in several of them. Even though, at times, the creative materials are more in line with the declarative, the intensity of their emotional truth and the conviction of the notions wielded in the writing style are undeniable. Perhaps the necessary catharsis and the loyalty to the events satisfy the poet more and better interpret his testimonial role based on memories, enumerations, and compelling expressions.”
This is the fourth poetry collection translated by Priscilla Gac-Artigas. The other three collections are: “Un poète dans la ville /Un poeta en la ciudad.” Paris, L’Harmattan, 2023; “hombre de américa/man of the americas.” Nueva York Poetry Press, 2022 (with Andrea G. Labinger), Finalist International Book Award in 2023, category of contemporary poetry; and “deseos / longings / j’aimerais tant.” Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, 2020 (translation into French).
Gac-Artigas is a Fulbright Scholar, a full member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE by its acronym in Spanish), and a correspondent member of the Royal Spanish Academy.