And as I reach the milestones of publishing my ninth book of poetry and finishing my seventh year of moderating bi-monthly poetry critique groups, another milestone has fallen into my lap.
Unbeknownst to me, Penguin Classics has been gearing up to celebrate their 90th anniversary in publishing. A few months ago I received a message from my editor at Penguin that they selected one of my translations to be part of a series of 90 small books to celebrate this landmark occasion.
The translation is called The Umbrella, a collection of ten short stories by Tove Ditlevsen. This collection of about 100 pages was previously published in a larger selection of her short stories called The Trouble with Happiness, which I translated in 2023. Within this little volume, among other situations, a couple deal with a miscarriage and an unhousebroken cat, a pregnant woman and her husband shop for a house, a husband struggles with bipolar disorder, and a young woman seeks an illegal abortion.
To me the stories in The Umbrella lean hard into the effects patriarchy and toxic masculinity
have on relationships both within the family structure and in society at large. Although these hyper-realistic stories first appeared in 1952, unfortunately, their themes are still relevant, over 70 years later.
They are cautionary tales, reminding us to be more self-aware so we don’t end up like the characters in her stories, so that our reality may evolve into lives more satisfying and whole than theirs.
I feel honored to be selected with this republication to represent Penguin Classics. I did not write the original Danish book, but it still feels remarkable to find work that I selected and translated on a list with luminary authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, James Baldwin and Allen Ginsberg.
On Tuesday April 22, I will read from The Umbrella at Broadside Books at 7pm in Northampton. The reading will also be broadcast live on my youtube channel, and can also be viewed as a recording afterward