Vermont Studio Center receives $180,000 grant From the Henry Luce Foundation for Chinese Poetry & Translation Residency Program
The Vermont Studio Center is pleased to announce a grant of $180,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation in support of the VSC Chinese Poetry & Translation Residency Program. Over the next three years, VSC will host 15 pairs of Chinese poets and English translators for 4-week residencies, providing them the rare opportunity to work together on new poetry and translations within the context of VSC’s international creative community. A call for poet and translator applications will be publicized early next year for the inaugural round of fellowships with an April 1, 2013 application deadline.
Working from the belief that face-to-face interaction leads to better, more nuanced translations, the 4-week residencies are an exceptional opportunity for Chinese poets and English translators to create new work individually and in collaboration. The Luce Foundation’s support builds upon the legacy of VSC’s partnership with the Jintian Literary Fund in 2009 and 2010, which brought acclaimed Chinese poets Ouyang Jianghe and Yu Jian, and their respective translators Austin Woerner and Wang Ping, to the Studio Center for 2-week residencies. The Fellowships include roundtrip travel for the Chinese poets, as well as a residency stipend.
The work of the VSC Chinese Poetry & Translation Fellows supported by the Luce Foundation will help foster a wider audience for contemporary Chinese poetry through translation, and it will enrich literary exploration and cultural exchange within the global creative community at the Vermont Studio Center. This expansion of the Chinese Poetry & Translation Residency Program signals an important milestone for writers at VSC, modeled after the international fellowship programs for visual artists, including major programs through the Freeman Foundation (Asian artists) and Robert Sterling Clark Foundation (African and Latin American artists).
The Chinese Poetry & Translation Fellows will be an important part of the Studio Center’s larger international Literature in Translation (LiT) Program, which will celebrate its 5th anniversary in 2013 by featuring Arabic and Hebrew languages through a public forum in October with Peter Cole and Adina Hoffman, and a number of literary translator and international writer residencies sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.
Founded by artists in 1984, the Vermont Studio Center is the largest international artists’ and writers’ residency program in the U.S., hosting more than 50 artists and writers each month from across the country and around the world.
For more information, contact Gary Clark, Director for Development / Writing Program, or Zayne Turner, Writing Program Coordinator, or call (802) 635-2727.
