Ani Gjika is an Albanian-born poet, literary translator, and author of Bread on Running Waters (Fenway Press, 2013). Her translation of Luljeta Lleshanaku’s Negative Space (Bloodaxe Books/New Directions, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2019 International Griffin Poetry Prize. She’s a recipient of several awards and fellowships including from the National Endowment for the Arts, English PEN, the Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship and, most recently, Restless Books’ 2021 Prize for New Immigrant Writing for her forthcoming memoir.

Dunya Mikhail is an Iraqi American poet and writer. She has received a United States Artists Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Kresge Fellowship, Arab American Book Award, and UN Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing. She is the first contemporary Iraqi woman poet translated into English. Her book The War Works Hard (New Directions, 2005), translated by Elizabeth Winslow, was shortlisted for the 2006 International Griffin Poetry Prize. New Directions published three of her other poetry books and her non-fiction book, The Beekeeper, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and for PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award. Her debut novel, The Bird Tattoo, shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, is coming out on December 6, 2022 from Pegasus. She currently works as a special lecturer of Arabic at Oakland University in Michigan. Visit Dunya Mikhail’s website here and read her recent piece on self-translation.

Translation Talks will run for approximately one hour on Zoom and will be hosted by Griffin Poetry Prize editorial director Adriana Oni??, and social media director Mirene Arsanios. You will receive the Zoom link via Eventbrite after registering.

Our first event, held on January 27, 2022, featured Khaled Mattawa and Sarah Riggs, which you can listen to here.

If you have any questions, please contact Adriana Oni?? at editorialdirector@griffinpoetryprize.com.