Into the Ghostworld: Conversations with Ananda Devi

The Centre for Poetry and Poetics and the School of Modern Languages and Cultures welcome the celebrated francophone writer Ananda Devi, for an afternoon of poetry and translation.

3-4pm Poetry Reading and Discussion (online and in person, open to all)

4.30-6pm Poetry and Translation Workshop (in person only, knowledge of French required)

Attendees are welcome to come to either or both sessions. Online participants for the poetry reading and discussion will need to register in advance via Eventbrite; in person participants do not need to register.  

Born in Mauritius, Devi is one of the leading francophone writers of the Indian Ocean. She is the author of novels, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. Her writing has been translated into many languages, and has been awarded numerous literary prizes, including the Prix des Cinq Continents de la francophonie, the Prix Louis Guilloux, and the Prix des Étonnants Voyageurs. She was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2010, and received the Prix du rayonnement de la langue et de la littérature françaises from the Académic française in 2014.

Devi’s poetry publications include Quand la nuit consent à me parler (When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me, translated by Kazim Ali), and Ceux du large, a collection written in French, English and Creole. She has also recently published a book about Sylvia Plath, Sylvia P.

In the first of the afternoon’s two sessions, Devi will present her work and will read (in English) from When the Night Agrees to Speak to Me and Ceux du large. 

The second session will be a poetry and translation workshop. Devi will discuss the process of writing between three languages in Ceux du large. Participants will then be invited to work on their own translations of her poems, into French or into English.

Co-organised by Sam Bootle, Amaleena Damlé and Martin Dubois